Portland jury REJECTS homeless man's $10 million suit against business owner who shot him 3 times during burglary

A Portland jury has ruled against a homeless man who filed a civil suit against a business owner who shot him three times during a burglary, denying his $10 million ask. The 12-person jury ruled Tuesday, 10-2, that business owner James Grant opening fire on vagrant Kenneth Voyles was justified.

Voyles was shot and doused with urine when he decided to burglarize Touchstone Granite & Marble on March 6, 2023. He broke into the building by cutting metal bars, prying off a board, and crawling through a doggie door around 5:30 am, the Oregonian reported.

Grant, a 72-year-old Army veteran with hearing loss, was living in his business at the time. He testified that Voyles, who was high on methamphetamine, advanced on him with bolt cutters after defying his orders to "get on the ground." This prompted Grant to throw urine in Voyles' face and shoot him in an act of self-defense, he said.

"I didn't want to do deadly force," Grant told the jury, explaining that he had 13 rounds remaining in the gun. Voyles, who claimed that he was seeking a warm place to stay, testified that Grant shot him without warning, resulting in a collapsed lung and shattered bones. The business owner also allegedly told Voyles, "You're going to die," according to Voyles' testimony.

No criminal charges were ever filed against Grant. Voyles was sentenced to five years in the city's drug-treatment court program after pleading no contest to first-degree burglary of a dwelling and menacing. He has prior convictions for similar incidents and also served more than one year in prison for vehicle theft, according to records.

Voyles asked the jury to award him $5 million in punitive damages and $5 million in compensatory damages, alleging assault, battery, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury awarded him $0.

"Everybody I know, and I'm not just talking about 10 or 20 people, nobody could believe we even got this far," Grant told the Oregonian, expressing relief after the trial. "The laws are bad. It's just not fair."