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JEFFERSON CITY - The Eight Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday a Sedalia police officer's fatal shooting of a man in 2007 was lawful out of self-defense.

The three-justice panel ruled unanimously in favor of John Cook, the officer who shot David Morgan once in the chest after he approached him with a knife during a dispute. Morgan's camp sued Cook on a claim of excessive force, but the court on Tuesday said the "act of shooting Morgan was objectively reasonable."

A 2011 ruling from a prior court had also ruled against the Morgan team's claims, as a district court threw out the suit against the city of Sedalia.