No reduction of bond for road rage
Posted/updated on: March 30, 2026 at 3:13 am
TYLER — A Smith County judge denied a motion to lower the bond for Dayton Morgan, who was charged with murder in connection to a fatal road rage shooting earlier this year.
According to our news partner KETK, in Friday’s hearing at the 114th District Judicial Court, a grand jury indicted thee 23-year-old Morgan, of murder for allegedly shooting a man on Feb. 13 during a Tyler road rage incident. Morgan plead not guilty to the charge, the criminal court coordinator Taylor Moss confirmed. Morgan’s bond remains at $1 million, as Smith County Judge Austin Reeve Jackson denied a motion to lower the bond to $100,000.
Morgan was arrested on Feb. 13 after 29-year-old Trevor Julian, died by gunfire in a reported road rage incident. According to an arrest affidavit, a Tesla “stopped abruptly” in front of a pickup Morgan was driving at the intersection of E. Grande Boulevard and Paluxy Drive. Julian was in the passenger seat of the Tesla, which his wife was driving. Morgan told investigators that he opened his truck door but remained seated as Julian exited the Tesla and approached the truck. The two men began yelling at each other.
Julian then walked to the front of the pickup, shouting and pointing through the windshield. As he moved toward the driver’s side door, Morgan opened his center console, retrieved a pistol and fired one round through the window, striking Julian in the throat. Morgan told investigators that Julian stumbled backward and then moved forward again, at which point Morgan fired a second round, striking him in the upper chest. Julian fell to the ground and remained there until EMS arrived. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A preliminary investigation revealed that there was no need for self-defense.
“Having interviewed Morgan, to include information obtained from multiple witnesses to the incident, I did not obtain any information that would warrant Morgan having discharged his firearm as a means of self-defense,” the affidavit stated.
