Peo v. Morgan

CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 2, 2025
Docket22CA1580
StatusUnpublished

This text of Peo v. Morgan (Peo v. Morgan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peo v. Morgan, (Colo. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

22CA1580 Peo v Morgan 10-02-2025

COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS

Court of Appeals No. 22CA1580 Weld County District Court No. 20CR496 Honorable Timothy Kerns, Judge

The People of the State of Colorado,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

Kaman Michael Morgan,

Defendant-Appellant.

JUDGMENT AFFIRMED

Division V Opinion by JUDGE FREYRE Pawar and Yun, JJ., concur

NOT PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO C.A.R. 35(e) Announced October 2, 2025

Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, William G. Kozeliski, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee

Casey J. Mulligan, Alternate Defense Counsel, Boulder, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant ¶1 Defendant, Kaman Michael Morgan, appeals his conviction for

first degree murder. We affirm.

I. Background

¶2 Morgan and B.B. dated on and off for three years and had a

child together.

¶3 On February 24, 2020, police responded to a report of a

shooting at Morgan’s house. Upon arrival, they found B.B. lying

face down in the driveway, with blood coming from her head. The

windshield of B.B.’s car had five bullet holes. B.B. had been shot

six times — five times from the front or side, and once in the back

of the head.

¶4 Multiple neighbors testified that they heard gunshots on the

night of the shooting. One neighbor testified that when she went

outside, she heard a man yell, “That’s what you get, you bitch.”

¶5 After the shooting, Morgan called his mother and confessed to

shooting B.B. A few hours later, he arrived at his mother’s house

and asked her to drive him to the police station. Morgan told his

mother that B.B. “said the wrong thing one last time,” so he

retrieved his gun from the house and shot B.B. through the front

windshield of her car.

1 ¶6 Earlier on the day of the shooting, Morgan and B.B. exchanged

text messages about B.B. picking up their infant son from Morgan’s

house. Morgan wrote, “I’m just so done with your fucking shit[,] it

gives me a headache even talking to you. Actions speak louder

than words! When you come my dad will [hand] him off to you[,] I

don’t even want to see you ever again. Or speak to you if I don’t

have to.” Morgan then called B.B. a “cunt.”

¶7 The trial evidence further showed that Morgan had threatened

to kill B.B. during a phone call in January 2020 and again the day

before the shooting.

¶8 Morgan testified at trial. Morgan admitted that he had

repeatedly threatened to kill B.B., though he claimed that they were

empty threats. Morgan said that B.B. arrived at his house around

8 p.m. to pick up their son. He said they argued and B.B. hit him

in the leg with the car seat. She then said, “Say good-bye to your

son. You’re never [going to] see him again[,] . . . at least alive.”

Morgan testified that he went inside to get his cell phone to call the

police and, while inside, also grabbed his gun. He returned outside

and claimed he saw B.B. shaking their son while putting him in the

car seat. Morgan then shot B.B. five times through the car’s

2 windshield. When she fell out of the car, Morgan said he

accidentally shot her a sixth time.

¶9 Police recovered a .357 magnum revolver from the front lawn.

All six bullets had been fired. They also recovered a box of .357

magnum ammunition that was missing six bullets.

¶ 10 The jury convicted Morgan of first degree murder (after

deliberation) as an act of domestic violence, and the trial court

sentenced him to life without parole.

¶ 11 On appeal, Morgan contends that the trial court

(1) impermissibly permitted prosecutorial misconduct during voir

dire; (2) erroneously refused to give the jury a curative instruction

defense counsel requested after deliberations had begun; and

(3) erroneously precluded the defense from eliciting exculpatory

testimony from Morgan’s brother. He also asserts these errors

cumulatively deprived him of a fair trial. We address and reject

each of his contentions.

II. Prosecutorial Misconduct and Curative Instruction

¶ 12 Morgan contends that the prosecutor committed misconduct

when he used an analogy to explain the concept of “after

deliberation.” He further contends that the trial court erred when it

3 denied his request for a curative instruction on “after deliberation”

after the jury began deliberating. We discern no error.

A. Additional Background Information

¶ 13 During voir dire, the prosecutor questioned the panel about

inferring intent from an individual’s action. He used the example of

someone using their turn signal, indicating their intent to turn. He

then asked two jurors about using their turn signals.

[PROSECUTOR]: On your way to court, did you change lanes?

JUROR NO. 10: Yes.

[PROSECUTOR]: And can you describe for me how you did it? And he’s not going to write you a ticket if you —did you use your turn signal?

JUROR NO. 10: No, I just used my turn signal and used my mirrors to make sure I can get over.

[PROSECUTOR]: Okay. How long did that take you?

JUROR NO. 10: A few seconds, I guess.

[PROSECUTOR]: Would you say it was a hasty decision you made?

JUROR NO. 10: No.

[PROSECUTOR]: Okay. Was it — or it wasn’t impulsive either, was it?

4 JUROR NO. 10: No.

[PROSECUTOR]: Okay. It’s something you thought about and did relatively quickly?

[PROSECUTOR]: And you did it safely?

....

[PROSECUTOR]: Juror Number 9, same question.

JUROR NO. 9: Yeah, I just turn my turn signal on and change lanes, and made it on time.

[PROSECUTOR]: Okay. And, again, it wasn’t an impulsive decision —

JUROR NO. 9: No.

[PROSEUCTOR]: -- or hasty; is that fair?

JUROR NO. 9: Right.

[PROSECUTOR]: And it was a relatively quick decision?

JUROR NO. 9: Yes.

¶ 14 In closing argument, the prosecutor referenced this analogy

without objection, saying the following regarding the element of

after deliberation:

After deliberation, you guys heard a lot of talk about that when we were doing jury selection

5 and things like that. The judge talked to you about it, I talked to you about it, defense counsel talked to you about it. But this definition doesn’t mean you have to think for days and days and weeks and weeks about a plan, you know, like, in a movie plot or something like that. That’s why I talked to you guys in jury selection about changing lanes in a car. It’s something that if you don’t do safely, it can have huge ramifications. But you do it quickly. You look in your mirror, you signal and you go or don’t go because it’s not safe yet. It can be a very quick decision.

We talked about it can’t be hasty or impulsive, right? Just like changing a lane. Here, you have him telling her the day before he’s going to kill her. Him telling her to come to their house and get [their child] that night right then and there . . . . He’s not happy about her moving in with her new boyfriend. His mom tells her —tells you guys, or at least the cops do, that he’s been saying he wanted to kill her for weeks. . . . [He] threatens to murder her the day before. The day of the murder he tells her how much [he] hates her and doesn’t want her moving in with [her boyfriend]. That shows deliberation, ladies and gentlemen. That shows that this was intentional.

¶ 15 Defense counsel then responded:

So first, let’s look at the element of after deliberation.

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