Arkansas man convicted in random shooting, killing of jogger

FORT SMITH -- A Barling man accused of randomly gunning down a jogger from inside his vehicle last year was sentenced Tuesday to two life terms in prison.

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A Sebastian County Circuit Court jury convicted John Paul Suleski, 26, of first-degree murder and first-degree unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle that resulted in the death of Brent Morrison, 44, on July 11, 2015.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for just more than an hour Tuesday afternoon before returning guilty verdicts in a trial that started Monday. Jurors deliberated for another 83 minutes before recommending a life sentence for each charge, to be served concurrently.

Circuit Judge Stephen Tabor followed the jury's recommendation in sentencing Suleski.

Suleski was accused of shooting Morrison nine times as he jogged alone on Wells Lake Road at Chaffee Crossing in Fort Smith during the early morning hours of July 11, 2015.

Suleski, a Marine veteran, confessed to police that he shot Morrison from 138 feet away with his .22-caliber rifle as he sat in the back seat of his Chevrolet HHR and fired out the back window.

He said in his confession he was depressed over his failing marriage and financial troubles. He contemplated shooting himself with the rifle until he saw Morrison jog by and decided to shoot him, hoping that hurting Morrison would make him feel less pain.

Morrison, who loved to run, was the kind of man who would helped Suleski if only he had asked, Morrison's friend Corbett Sanders of Hot Springs read in a statement to jurors. He said the rest of the world was robbed of the pure joy Morrison brought to life.

Morrison's wife, Dianne Morrison, said she and her husband of nearly 12 years were living the life they wanted. They had good jobs and the home of their dreams. Her heart was broken having to now go home to an empty house and live the rest of her life without him.

She read the lyrics to a song by Disturbed, "Save Our Last Goodbye," from which one line said, "It's killing me that I won't get to hear your laughter anymore."

Family members and friends in the audience wept as she read her statement. Suleski hunched over the defense table and wept as well.

Suleski claimed mental disease or defect as his defense. Rogers clinical psychologist Virginia Krauft testified Tuesday that Suleski was suffering from a mental illness when he shot Morrison. She said he was in a "suicidal fog" and wasn't responsible for his actions.

"He was in a suicidal state," she said. "He was not in a rational state of consciousness."

She administered tests to Suleski 14 months after the shooting and said the results showed he suffered from major depression, recurrent, severe, without psychosis; schizoid personality disorder; and adjustment disorder with anxiety.

On the witness stand Tuesday, she dropped the adjustment disorder diagnosis because it related to his adjustment to life in jail, she said.

Little Rock forensic psychologist Paul Deyoub, who evaluated Suleski for the Arkansas State Hospital, testified that Suleski suffered from no mental disease or defect, noting that depression was not a mental illness.

He said none of the tests performed by Krauft showed whether Suleski suffered from a mental disease or defect on the day of the shooting.

And even if he was depressed and suicidal, Deyoub said, that state did not render Suleski incapable of appreciating the criminality of his conduct nor stop him from being able to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law.

He also said he saw no mental problem that prevented Suleski from assisting in his defense.

Metro on 12/21/2016

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