Portland man who killed woman in 'self-defense' while smoking meth avoids jail time, sentenced to probation for gun charge

On Thursday, a Portland, Oregon man was resentenced to two years of probation in connection with the shooting death of a woman with whom he was smoking meth in April 2022.

While 37-year-old Kirk Mickels fatally wounded 22-year-old Gabrielle Dozhier and was originally charged with murder, a grand jury found that there wasn't enough evidence to support that claim, and only indicted him for being a felon in possession of a firearm. 

According to Oregon Live, Mickels' new sentence is a far cry from what Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Heidi Moawad originally handed down. In September 2022, she found him guilty and sentenced him to five years in prison. The punishment was longer than was typical for such a charge due to the fact that he used the firearm to commit a crime.

In February, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that Mickels had acted in self-defense, and called for a resentencing.



While prosecutors called for three years of probation, defense attorney William Walsh argued that because Mickels had already been held in custody for two years, no further punishment was necessary. In the end, Moawad opted for two years of probation.

The incident in question took place on April 10, 2022, at the Hamilton West building in downtown Portland. Mickels and Dozhier, along with another woman, Monnette Turner, entered his apartment and proceeded to smoke meth together. After a while, Mickels became convinced that the women were trying to steal from him, and asked them to leave.

Mickels claimed that the women then charged at him with a "pole and scissors," at which point he took out his gun and fired, striking Dozhier in the torso. He also pistol-whipped Turner. 

"I've known for a long time that I was going to lose my Gabby girl," Mindy Dozhier said following her death, "but I didn't think it was going to be to murder." She said her daughter was "always telling jokes, trying to lift people up, trying to be there for people," when she wasn't "lost in their addiction or their mental illness."