Defense attorneys for man charged with Portland murders claim he was protester mistakenly identified as killer

Jeremy Michael Lenoire, 27, was arrested at his home in Frisco, Texas in March of 2022 following a coordinated investigation by the Denton County Sheriff's Office, US Marshals Service, and the Portland Police Bureau and extradited to Multnomah County, Oregon on four counts of murder, two counts of burglary, and two counts of robbery, per the Denton Register-Chronicle. Authorities said that Lenoire was armed during each of the crimes.

The charges stem from a June 6, 2021, incident in Southeast Portland during what prosecutors described as a botched marijuana robbery. During opening arguments in the trial of the case, Multnomah County prosecutors claimed that three masked gunmen broke into a home containing a significant amount of marijuana, estimated at 100 pounds, and a violent confrontation ensued, per The Oregonian.

31-year-old Mitchell Nacoste, the home’s resident, and his brother Kendall Gragg, 27, were both killed during the shootout. Two of the intruders—Donovan Lenford, 24, and Eyion Willis, 23—also died. Lenoire is the only alleged gunman to survive the gunfight. Although he is not accused of firing the fatal shots, Lenoire has been charged with felony murder, which holds participants in certain felonies responsible for any resulting deaths.

“He was there, he had a gun,” said Senior Deputy District Attorney Shawn Overstreet. “At the very minimum, he was there simply to go and take some stuff.”

The prosecution alleged that Lenoire and his accomplices planned the robbery in Texas, taped over their shoe treads to avoid leaving identifiable prints, and left their cellphones with an acquaintance before heading to Oregon in a rented white van.

Defense attorney Alexander Hamalian argued that Lenoire is a victim of mistaken identity and claimed that Lenoire traveled to Portland with the others not to commit a robbery, but to attend social justice protests. Although a legally owned .22-caliber firearm belonging to Lenoire was found at the crime scene, Hamalian maintains it was used by someone else during the attack.

“For maybe the first time in my career, the evidence of his gun at the scene, where four dead bodies exist, is also going to be a reason why I’m going to ask you to find him not guilty,” Hamalian told the jury.

According to The Oregonian, jurors also heard testimony from Sara G. Jones, 39, who had been dating Nacoste for four years and was the only eyewitness to the killings. She described how three armed men stormed the home while she and Nacoste were watching television. Nacoste reportedly grabbed a snub-nosed rifle and fatally shot two of the intruders during the firefight but was himself mortally wounded. While Jones initially described the surviving intruder as possibly Hispanic, she later testified that the gunman with the rifle had lighter skin.

According to prosecutors, Lenoire fled the scene in the rented van and later confessed to a girlfriend of one of the deceased accomplices.