Man sentenced to 13 to 40 years in killing of Eriq Morrison Jr. in Delco
A 19-year-old Chester man was sentenced to 13-40 years in a state prison Friday for the February 2023 shooting death of 18-year-old Eriq Morrison Jr.
Lamont Dale had been scheduled to go to trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Deborah A. Krull next week. He instead pleaded guilty Friday to charges of third-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy to robbery and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, all felonies.
On the charges
Dale, who was 17 at the time of Morrison’s death, was sentenced concurrently on the lesser charges under a negotiated guilty plea worked out by Deputy District Attorney Matthew Krouse and defense counsel Timothy Tarpey.
Dale and co-defendant Jaleer Fletcher, 17, of Elkton, Md., had separately waived their preliminary hearings, which had taken first-degree murder off the table in exchange for nontrial dispositions at the Common Pleas Court level.
Fletcher later balked, however, and rejected pleading open to third-degree murder, conspiracy to third-degree murder and robbery. The only agreement on a sentence reached with defense counsel Shawn Page in his case was that the judge would impose an aggregate sentence between 12½ and 25 years at a minimum, Krouse said at an earlier hearing.
Fletcher is scheduled to begin trial on reinstated first- and second-degree murder charges on Monday.
Summary of the case
Dale was arrested in March 2024 and Fletcher was arrested in June 2024.
According to affidavits of probable cause written by Delaware County Detectives William Murphy and Brian Pot:
Police were dispatched to the first block of East 17th Street shortly before 1 p.m. on Feb. 17, 2023, and found Morrison on the ground next to a red Honda suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso.
The Honda had crashed into numerous parked cars and police found a 9 mm shell casing in front of a nearby driveway. Morrison’s cellphone was collected from the car.
An autopsy later confirmed that Morrison’s death was caused by a gunshot wound to the right side of his back. The manner was ruled a homicide.
Police spoke with a witness who said they had traveled to Chester with Morrison in the Honda that day. When they got to the first block of East 17th Street, the witness said they noticed two males on the street.
Morrison stopped the car and the two males approached, one going to the driver’s side and other to the passenger side.
The witness said the male on the passenger side opened the rear door and pointed a gun at them, then told them to get out of the car. Morrison attempted to drive off and the witness heard a single shot.
Detectives extracted a text conversation on Morrison’s phone that indicated he was meeting a person to purchase a handgun that day. An initial meeting place on the 100 block of East 18th Street was changed to East 17th Street.
The last two texts from Morrison came about 12:45 p.m., one reading, “We here.”
Detectives determined the number Morrison was communicating with belonged to Fletcher.
Investigators reviewed surveillance camera footage that captured the two males walking from the 100 block of East 18th Street to the first block of East 17th Street before the shooting occurred at 12:49 p.m.
Just after the shooting, both males could be seen running through the rear yard of a property on East 17th Street, one carrying an AR-style rifle and the other apparently trying to tuck a handgun into his pants.
The two males can then be seen jumping a fence onto Upland Street before running to the rear of a house on the 100 block of East 18th Street.
Detectives searched the rear yard where the suspects ran and found the AR with an obliterated serial number, as well as a 9 mm handgun that was later forensically matched to the fired casing found at the crime scene.
An additional review of surveillance video determined Dale was holding the long gun that day and that Fletcher was using his phone at the same time Morrison had texted, as the two made their way toward the shooting location.
Life of service
Krouse on Friday entered a ballistics report into evidence that allegedly found the handgun, not the rifle Dale was carrying, had fired the fatal shot.
A DNA report likewise indicated Dale was the main contributor to evidence found on the rifle and that Fletcher was the main contributor to DNA on the handgun, Krouse said.
Krouse also read several letters from friends and family of the victim who described him as compassionate, always able to see the good in people and eager to lend a hand.
A young man of limitless faith, potential and good humor, he was the kind of kid who would help an old lady across the street and then carry her groceries inside, they said.
A lifelong member of Newark Church of Christ and then Ezion Fair Baptist Church, Morrison often volunteered his time to feed the homeless, serve Saturday morning breakfast at the church, help out in the church store and do whatever maintenance or landscaping was needed, according to his obituary.
“We all have growing pains in our transition to adulthood, we all needed guidance in one aspect or another in our lives, and Eriq is no different,” Krouse read in a letter from the family. “He found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and lost his life in the process. We are grateful, however, that he was able to make a positive impact in so many lives during his lifetime.”
“Eriq had dreams, hopes and plans that were stolen from him and from all of us,” said his best friend, Jayden, in another letter read in court. “He was a good, funny and full-of-life person. He made the people he cared for feel seen and cared for.”
His mother, Tamu Morrison, said Eriq was preparing to graduate from William Penn High School when he was shot. They were waiting for his senior pictures to arrive in the mail, she said. It was a happy time.
Then came the call that changed their lives forever.
“Eriq didn’t deserve to die,” she told Dale. “He didn’t deserve to be shot in the street like an animal. Nobody deserves that. He was a good kid. He was a loving kid. And for what? Money? For what he had? Senseless.”
Tamu Morrison said that on her son’s past birthday this year, she got a call from a friend of his who asked what he could do to help her.
He explained that he had recently gotten out of jail, but while he was inside, Eriq had gone to his grandmother’s house every Friday to just sit and talk with her, or help get her groceries. She said she broke down crying to hear that, because that was the child she had raised.
Now, she said she and her husband must continue to try to carry on and make peace with what happened.
She said God had told her Eriq was taken so young because he had already accomplished what was needed of him, more than some people do sitting in church for 50 years. It is a hard pill to swallow, but she said she must, and she must forgive her son’s killers for her own sake.
A lot of anger
His father, Eric Morrison, is not there yet.
He said he is still carrying a lot of anger and it breaks his heart how young everyone involved is. His only biological son’s life is over, he said, and the co-defendants’ lives will be forever changed from what might have been with his death.
He said he hopes that Dale spends every possible year of his sentence in prison because Eric Sr. is also in a prison of pain that he cannot escape from. They have had to take down his son’s pictures from the walls at home, he said. They can’t eat his favorite foods. You do not realize the magnitude of losing a child until you are in the midst of it, he said.
But he vowed to be at every one of Dale’s parole hearings early, with a crowd, for as long as God would allow him to stay on Earth.
“My Bible tells me that I’ll never be able to go to heaven if I don’t have forgiveness,” Eric Morrison Sr. told the man who participated in his son’s murder. “So I guess I’ll spend my afterlife in hell. I’m ok with that. I’ll see you there.”
Tarpey said his client did not have the language to express his own sentiments, but he does feel remorse for his actions that day.
Krull said she hoped he would one day be able to find the words for Morrison’s family and imposed the sentence as negotiated.
In addition to prison time, Dale must forfeit the firearm and a cellphone, and provide a DNA sample to state police. Dale must also earn his GED, and undergo trauma therapy and vocational training while incarcerated.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 6.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; background-color: #ffffff} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #2f2f5d; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #2f2f5d}
This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between Fideri News Network and The Daily Times news organization. To read more stories like this, visit https://www.delcotimes.com/.
