Murder charge dismissed against man

A former Willoughby man who was charged last spring with stabbing his roommate to death will no longer face murder charges.

A Lake County grand jury has instead indicted 55-year-old Lawrence Morgan on a single felony tampering with evidence count in the death of 47-year-old Eric Johnson.

Johnson’s body was found around 10:20 p.m. on May 21, 2016, after Willoughby police received a disturbance call from a landlord of a downtown apartment building on the 4100 block of Erie Street.

Detectives learned there was a verbal alternation that turned physical between the two roommates inside the basement apartment. Johnson suffered two knife wounds to his front torso.

Although police initially charged Morgan with murder, the grand jury this week opted not to indict him on that count.

“I think the grand jury did the right thing,” Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson said. “They found it was self defense. We had an independent witness who observed everything. It was clear that the sole aggressor was the victim.

What (Morgan) shouldn’t have done was to try and hide the knife, and that is what the grand jury chose to indict him on.”

If convicted of the tampering charge, Morgan faces up to three years in prison.

After the physical altercation, Morgan left the apartment and was found at a nearby restaurant at

1:30 a.m., May 22, according to police. The alleged weapon was later located and secured as evidence.

Morgan remains in jail on a $1 million cash bond. A new bond hearing is scheduled for Sept. 22 in Lake County Common Pleas Court.

He is being represented by the Lake County Public Defender’s Office.

“He’s said all along that the actions he took were in self-defense,” Public Defender Charles Grieshammer said. “It’s an unfortunate situation.”

Morgan