Santee

Jurors began deliberations Tuesday in the attempted-murder trial of a 45-year-old man who has admitted shooting another motorist after a traffic dispute in Santee.

Simeon Thomas Berkley of El Cajon is charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the Feb. 6 shooting of Richard Ray Durkin, 32, also of El Cajon.

Berkley is claiming that he shot Durkin in self-defense after the victim got out of his car and struck him in the face, knocking off his glasses.

The altercation occurred at Magnolia and Bradley avenues after both men had attempted to merge into the same lane about 15 minutes earlier on Interstate 8.

In his closing arguments Tuesday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Douglas Mooney stressed to the jury that a self-defense argument only applies when a person is faced with “imminent peril.”

Durkin was shot in the back, and Mooney said he was trying to escape after seeing that Berkley had a gun.

Defense attorney Tim Chandler accused Durkin of lying on the witness stand in order to protect himself in any civil lawsuit against Berkley. Durkin “knows that he’s fundamentally and irrevocably responsible for it,” Chandler said.

The jury will continue deliberations this morning. Berkley remains in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail.