GA Supreme Court hears convicted Columbus killer’s appeal in 2012 drug shooting
Seven years have passed since a Columbus jury found Dana Michael Kessler guilty of murder in the death of Jeffrey Morgan, who was only 25 when Kessler shot him during a marijuana deal outside the Sands Apartments on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Now Kessler is serving a sentence of life without parole at the Telfair State Prison in McRae-Helena, while his appeal goes before the Georgia Supreme Court, where justices heard arguments Thursday in Atlanta.
His attorneys argue Kessler’s videotaped confession to police was not freely given, and the jury should not have heard it during his 2013 trial in Muscogee Superior Court. Absent that statement, prosecutors had little evidence to prove Kessler fired the fatal shot, the defense claims.
Attorneys also maintain Judge William Rumer erred in allowing prosecutors to misstate the law during closing arguments, before the jury found Kessler guilty of killing Morgan during the commission of other felonies such as robbery.
The shooting happened around 2:30 p.m. April 6, 2012, in the parking lot of the 1213 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. apartments, where Kessler and Timothy Leshan Robinson met Morgan to buy marijuana.
They arrived to find Morgan in the driver’s seat of his Mazda as he dealt with another customer, who was in the front passenger’s seat. Robinson and Kessler got in the back seat where Morgan showed them some marijuana.
That’s when Kessler pulled out a .45-caliber pistol and pointed it between the front seats at Morgan, who pleaded, “Hold on man. Please don’t shoot me, man.” Kessler pulled the trigger, and the bullet went through Morgan’s right arm and into his chest.
Robinson jumped out and fled in Kessler’s Mitsubishi Galant, and the other customer ran across the street. Kessler then dragged Morgan from the driver’s seat and drove off in Morgan’s Mazda, leaving Morgan to bleed to death on the pavement amid a scattering of marijuana.
Kessler later met up with Robinson, dividing the stolen marijuana between them, and abandoned Morgan’s car. Police arrested them two days later, and questioned Kessler for hours until he finally told them what happened, claiming the gun fired accidentally, and he never meant to shoot Morgan.
Robinson went to trial with Kessler, and also was found guilty of murder. He was sentenced to life with parole, for which convicts typically become eligible after serving 30 years. When Rumer sentenced them in November 2013, Kessler was 28, and Robinson was 20.
Among those addressing the court at the sentencing was Morgan’s brother Jermaine, at the time a Columbus State University student pursuing a degree in criminal justice. His brother’s death drove him to write a book, “Destiny Child,” he said, and to counsel other young people with troubled lives.
The brother said he was a former drug dealer himself, and had lost another friend to violence.
“Everybody deals with some sort of struggle,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer in 2013. “Everybody thinks about giving up at some point. So, hopefully, ‘Destiny Child’ is an inspiration.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 9:22 AM.