When Portland, Oregon business owner James Grant shot an intruder who’d broken into his business more than three years ago, police declined to arrest him and prosecutors in the progressive city never brought charges against him.
Kenneth Voyles, the man who was shot by Grant, believes that he’s the real victim. He filed a lawsuit against Grant seeking $10 million in damages. The trial started last Monday and is expected to wrap up this week.
Voyles says he was homeless, hungry, and cold when he decided to break into Touchstone Granite & Marble in March 2023. He had no idea that Grant was sleeping in a back room of the business, and Grant had no idea that he wasn’t alone when he woke up that morning.
Voyles testified that, flashlight in hand, he had picked up a Dewalt bag with a drill inside that he planned to take with him and then rounded a corner to discover Grant walking toward him in a closed showroom of the business.
Grant had recently woken up for the day and was naked, with what appeared to be a towel over his shoulder.
The encounter was caught on surveillance video.
Voyles, clearly startled by the presence of another person, shouted, “Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” in an increasingly high-pitched voice.
Grant threw the urine that he happened to be carrying in a cup in his hand. Then Voyles shouted, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” as he dashed toward the garage door where he had entered. Grant chucked a heavy tile toward Voyles but missed. Then Grant followed.
A second confrontation unfolded seconds later near the garage door but wasn’t captured on video. That’s where the stories diverge.
Voyles maintains that he was apologizing profusely, and when Grant left the area he picked up a pair of bolt cutters so he could cut the padlock on the garage door and escape. In his version of events, Grant returned with his gun in hand and fired at him without saying a word.
Grant says he couldn’t hear anything Voyles was saying because he didn’t have his hearing aids in. He told jurors that he intended to hold Voyles at gunpoint for police, but when the intruder raised the pair of bolt cutters over his head, Grant was afraid he was about to be attacked and fired three shots.
Grant added: “My adrenaline was flowing, to just protect myself.”
Grant said he didn’t say anything to Voyles and that he wasn’t trying to kill him.
“I didn’t want to do deadly force,” Grant said.
Grant had a concealed weapons permit, is an Army veteran and said he has easily fired more than 10,000 rounds at firing ranges.
Grant wasn’t charged in the incident, but Voyles, who was shot in the arm, was ultimately sentenced to five years of drug treatment. He was also sentenced to more than a year in prison for an unrelated string of car break-ins.
Voyles’s attorney argues that when Grant left the area of the business to get his gun he could have simply retreated into a locked room. Grant’s attorney says that her client was well within his rights to try to hold Voyles for police, and only shot when he believed that his life was in danger.
I’d like to think that the jury won’t have to deliberate long before reaching a verdict in the business owner’s favor. Grant had been the subject of multiple break-ins in the past, and in every case police had simply taken a report over the phone without coming out to investigate in person. The business owner maintains that he just wanted to hold Voyles for police, believing that they’d be far more likely to respond in that situation, but had no intent or desire to harm him.
Voyles, meanwhile, was convicted of first-degree burglary and menacing, adding to his previous convictions for motor vehicle theft and business burglaries. He may not have intended to hurt Grant either, but I’d say it was entirely reasonable for the 70-year-old man to believe that his life was in danger when he pulled the trigger.
Will the jury agree? Portland’s reputation as a far-left haven for progressives is well-deserved, but there are also a lot of residents who are fed up with the crime and lawlessness that have almost been institutionalized by local politicians. Voyles has already been convicted for his actions that day, and I’d be somewhat surprised if the jury in his civil suit ends up siding with him over the business owner who acted in self-defense.
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