A career criminal with a lengthy record of burglaries and thefts who broke into a Portland countertop fabrication business and was shot three times by the owner while attempting to flee is now seeking $10 million in a civil lawsuit, arguing the property owner used excessive force against him.
The incident took place on March 6, 2023, around 5:30 a.m.
The criminal, 43-year-old Kenneth Voyles, who was homeless and had methamphetamine in his system, entered Touchstone Granite & Marble Inc. by pulling plywood off a damaged garage door and cutting through metal bars.
Voyles later claimed he was looking for food and to get out of the cold but also admitted he intended to rob the place.
Inside the building, he ran into the 70-year-old owner, James Grant, an Army veteran with a concealed weapons permit who had been living in a back room of the business.
Grant, who was not wearing his hearing aids, confronted Voyles, threw a cup of urine and tiles at him, and ordered him to leave.
“I go, ‘Stop!’ Like, ‘Please stop!’” Voyles claimed in court, according to a report from the Post Millennial. “He’s assaulting me. He was pretty angry.”
Voyles claimed he apologized and tried to exit but grabbed a pair of bolt cutters after finding a door locked, saying he only wanted to cut a padlock and escape the way he came in.
According to Grant, Voyles raised the bolt cutters over his head and moved toward him in a threatening way.
Grant grabbed his handgun from the back room, yelled multiple times for Voyles to get on the ground.
“At that point I turn to look at him, and I’m like ‘What the f*ck?’ And he goes, ‘You’re going to die,’” Voyles claimed.
Grant fired three shots, striking him in the arm and torso.
“I said, ‘Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Get on the ground. Get on the ground,” Grant told the court. “And he looked very agitated. Looked like he was getting ready to attack me. Then I shot three times.”
“My adrenaline was flowing, to just protect myself,” he continued. “I didn’t want to do deadly force.”
Grant was never charged, because law enforcement determined he acted in self-defense.
Voyles, however, pleaded no contest to first-degree burglary of a dwelling and menacing.
As part of a plea agreement, he received five years in drug treatment instead of prison time.
Voyles has a prior history that includes serving over a year behind bars for a series of car thefts and other burglaries.
In his lawsuit against Grant and the business, Voyles seeks $5 million in compensatory damages and another $5 million in punitive damages, alleging battery, assault, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The civil trial, which began this week, centers in part on whether the premises qualified as a “dwelling” under Oregon law, which provides stronger self-defense protections for homes than for pure businesses.
Grant had received prior zoning violations for living in the building but maintains he was protecting himself from a potentially violent intruder at the place where he lived and worked.
The jury is expected to return a verdict next week.
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