After three hours of deliberations Tuesday, Chattanooga jurors broke for the night in the murder trial of Derek Morse.
They were to resume discussions at 9 a.m. Wednesday about whether Morse pulled the trigger on Caleb Boozer, John Lang and Jon Morris as they hung out in front of a trailer home on Kellys Ferry Road on April 9, 2014. Morse faces three life sentences in the homicide and another charge of attempted first-degree murder. His trial began last week in Hamilton County Criminal Court.
Prosecutors say Morse, 23, and his friend, Skyler Allen, opened fire on the men in retaliation for a violent drug set-up five days earlier. They tried to kill 16-year-old Matthew Callan that night, too.
He lived, though, and he positively identified Morse as a shooter, connecting several circumstantial pieces of evidence, such as gunshot residue, shell casings and surveillance footage.
But Morse’s defense attorney, Dan Ripper, said Callan didn’t identify Morse in a 911 call right after the shooting. He pointed in closing arguments to a different culprit: Michael Shavers, who testified that Morse admitted the crime to him in jail.