The 62-year-old man accused of shooting and killing an unarmed teenager in Charleston's East End last year was indicted on a murder charge Thursday by a Kanawha County grand jury.
William Ronald Pulliam also was indicted on charges of use or presentment of a firearm during the commission of a felony and being a person prohibited from possessing a firearm. He was indicted on federal gun charges in February.
Pulliam was one of three men indicted Thursday on murder charges in three separate killings in Kanawha. In all Thursday, Kanawha Prosecuting Attorney Charles Miller announced that the grand jury returned indictments against 61 defendants. Arraignment dates and times are below.
When Charleston police charged Pulliam with murder in the death of 15-year-old James Harvey Means last November, Pulliam was not legally allowed to possess a firearm because of a 2013 domestic violence conviction in Kanawha Magistrate Court. The federal indictment against Pulliam alleges he lied on federal forms to purchase a .380-caliber revolver. Pulliam has not yet appeared in federal court on that charge.
Pulliam is set to be arraigned in Kanawha Circuit Judge Charles King's courtroom at 1:30 p.m. April 24.
He is being held at Western Regional Jail in Barboursville, though it's not clear when or why Pulliam was moved from South Central Regional Jail in Charleston. He's been held without bond since Nov. 21, the day Means was killed.
Means was shot twice in his back and chest with a .380-caliber revolver. It's not clear whether the gun Pulliam allegedly purchased illegally is the gun used to shoot Means.
Charleston police say Pulliam showed no remorse after his arrest last year. He admitted shooting Means, according to police, and said, "The way I look at it, that's another piece of trash off the street," a criminal complaint filed against Pulliam states.
Witnesses saw and heard Pulliam and Means exchange words after the two physically bumped each other on Nov. 21 on the sidewalk near Dollar General on Washington Street East. After the argument, Pulliam entered the store, while Means joined friends on a porch at the nearby home of a companion's grandmother. After Pulliam emerged from the store and walked past the porch where Means and his friends had gathered, the two argued again, and after Means crossed Washington Street East to approach him, Pulliam shot Means twice, according to police.
Means died shortly after arrival at Charleston Area Medical Center's General Hospital.
During a preliminary hearing in front of a Kanawha magistrate in December, Pulliam's lawyers with the Kanawha Public Defender Office said their client shot Means in self defense. Pulliam claims Means showed him a BB gun after an argument outside the Dollar General store, near the intersection of Nancy Street and Washington Street East.
Means did keep a BB gun in his waistband, Charleston Detective Chris Lioi testified during the December hearing. That was something the detective said he discovered during his investigation into Means' death. The BB gun was located in a bag belonging to a witness of the shooting, according to the detective.
Lioi previously said video footage from the shooting scene doesn't support Pulliam's self-defense claim.
Means didn't have anything in his hands when he was shot, according to the detective's previous testimony. After a gunshot to his chest, Means fell to the ground, according to the detective. When he got up, he turned to run away and was shot in the back, Lioi testified in December.
After the shooting, Pulliam went to dinner and then to a female friend's home, which is where police say they found the gun used to shoot Means.
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Keith Wade Jones, 61 of Rand, was indicted Thursday on a murder charge in the shooting death of his niece's boyfriend.
Police say Jones killed Joe Williams, 34, with a single gunshot to the head after some sort of disagreement last September. Williams was pronounced dead at the scene.
Jones is set to be arraigned at 1 p.m. April 5 before Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom. He's been held without bail in the South Central Regional Jail since Sept. 30, the day of the incident.
Jones was found by a West Virginia State Police trooper sitting next to Williams on a bed in the living room, where Jones slept at 5609 Elaine Drive, according to previous Gazette-Mail reports.
Trooper Aaron Wilson said Jones and Williams had been sitting next to each other before the disagreement began.
When the trooper questioned Jones after the shooting, the man said the incident happened quickly and that he couldn't remember what was said that made him mad. It prompted Jones, however, "to remove a .38 Special revolver from his pocket and shoot Mr. Williams," the trooper wrote in a criminal complaint filed against Jones.
Jones told police he was sitting about five feet from Williams during the incident. An autopsy found that Williams was shot at extremely close range - less than two inches. The trooper previously said Jones admitted to shooting Williams, at one point saying, "I shot that m-----f-----."
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De'Anthony Thornabar, 21, of South Charleston, is charged with murder in the shooting death of a man after a fight last year at Oakes Field.
Dylan Bailey died several hours after being shot. That's when charges of malicious wounding and wanton endangerment against Thornabar were upgraded to murder. The two men had allegedly agreed to meet at the South Charleston field for a fistfight about a woman. South Charleston police responded at about 2 a.m. Sept. 21 to calls of shots fired in the area.
Thornabar is set to be arraigned at 9 a.m. on April 21 in Kanawha Circuit Judge James Stucky's courtroom. He's been held in South Central Regional Jail since the day of the incident.
"Bailey and Thornabar got into a physical altercation and, according to Thornabar, Bailey was getting the better of him and Thornabar ended up on the ground," the criminal complaint filed against Thornabar, which was written by police, reads. "Thornabar told police that he told Bailey to stop and Bailey stopped. After Bailey stopped, Thornabar retrieved his gun from a juvenile present. After retrieving the gun, Thornabar pointed his gun at Bailey and shot Bailey in the back as Bailey turned away from him."
Bailey didn't have a gun, police previously said.
Katelyn Nicole Berger, 22, of Cross Lanes, child abuse creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death, child neglect causing serious bodily injury and child neglect creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death; Khalib Austin Grass, 19, of Cross Lanes, child abuse creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death, child neglect causing serious bodily injury and child neglect creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death; Carl C. Mosley, 22, of Charleston, first-degree robbery, first-degree sexual assault and burglary; William Wilbur Mullins, 41, of Elkview, fleeing in vehicle with reckless indifference to the safety of others and assault on a government representative; Samuel Otis Rutledge, 45, of South Charleston, burglary and destruction of property; Dennis Wayne Snyder, 26, of Hurricane, possession of a stolen vehicle and fleeing.
William Ronald Pulliam, 62, of Charleston, murder, use or presentment of a firearm during the commission of a felony and persons prohibited from possessing a firearm; William Curtis Atwell, 43, of Dunbar, wanton endangerment and violation of domestic violence protective order; Robert Joe Blake, 40, of Charleston, threats of terroristic acts, failure to register as a sex offender and assault; Trinity Anne McCallister, 33, of Mt. Carbon, burglary, battery and destruction of property; Tiffany Marie Williams, 29, of Dunbar, failure to register as a sex offender.
Keith Wade Jones, 61, of Charleston, murder; Nakia T. Berger, 36, of Institute, third and subsequent offense shoplifting; Richard Allen Brown, 30, of Belle, failure to register as a sex offender; Bryan Andrew Davis, 26, of Charleston, strangulation, domestic battery and burglary; Yusmani Alvarez Esmori, 29, of Jacksonville, Florida, fraud and related activity in connection with an access device and conspiracy; Lazaro Abraham Mazo, 27, of Hialeah, Florida, fraud and related activity in connection with an access device and conspiracy; Yordan Herrera Ruiz, 32, address unknown, fraud and related activity in connection with an access device and conspiracy; Charles M. Helmick, 37, of Charleston, failure to register as a sex offender; Brian Quentin Mullins, 29, of Charleston, possession of a stolen vehicle, grand larceny and fraud and related activity in connection with an access device; Charles Washington Robinson, 32, of Charleston, fraud and related activity in connection with an access device; Mayford Moxie Myers, 47, of Charleston, burglary, attempted murder, petit larceny and breaking and entering and battery; Michael Dean Belcher, 53, of Charleston, breaking and entering and petit larceny; Jeremiah Sloan, 26, of Charleston, breaking and entering and petit larceny; Mindy Sloan, 31, of Nitro, breaking and entering and petit larceny; Timothy Alan Sutton, 39, of Charleston, wanton endangerment, shooting across road or near building or crowd and fleeing with reckless indifference to the safety of others.
Christopher Lee Adkins, 42, of Nitro, fleeing in vehicle from police with reckless indifference to the safety of others; Brashan M. Beverly, 29, of Charleston, drug charges; Michelle Rene Bowles, 49, of Charleston, third and subsequent offense driving while license revoked for DUI, second offense DUI, crashes involving damage to vehicle and no proof of insurance; Bruce Lee Flowers, 39, of Charleston, breaking and entering and grand larceny; Byron Higginbotham, 36, of Charleston, first-degree sexual abuse; Daniel Allen Lanham, 22, of South Charleston, false reports concerning bombs or other explosive devices; David Lee Mallo, 19, of Cross Lanes, wanton endangerment, shooting across road or near building or crowd, breaking and entering, grand larceny and possession of a stolen vehicle; Kenneth Scott Morrison, 42, of Cross Lanes, breaking and entering, grand larceny and possession of a stolen vehicle; James Dempsey Short Jr., 36, of Clendenin, burglary; Aaron Kendall Stover, 27, of Charleston, transferring and receiving stolen property, petit larceny, grand larceny and possession of a stolen vehicle; Jared Patrick Tardy, 27, of Nitro, grand larceny and possession of a stolen vehicle; Levi David West, 22, of Cross Lanes, wanton endangerment, fleeing while DUI and fleeing with reckless indifference to the safety of others; Zachary Taylor Pearson, 19, of Charleston, wanton endangerment.
De'Anthony Thornabar, 21, of South Charleston, murder; Glenn Allen Casdorph, 28, of St. Albans, transferring and receiving stolen property; James Alexander Johnson, 26, of St. Albans, drug charges and malicious wounding; Devin Jamal Logan, 22, of South Charleston, wanton endangerment, shooting across road or near building or crowd and persons prohibited from possessing a firearm; Robert Edward Pettry, 36, of Seth, transferring and receiving stolen property; Shawn C. Simon, 44, of Charleston, malicious wounding, domestic battery and drug charges; Donnie James Sparks, 64, of St. Albans, third-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual abuse.
Blake Edward Atkins, 23, of Charleston, breaking and entering and grand larceny; Brandon James Atkins, 26, of Charleston, breaking and entering and transferring and receiving; Christopher Travis Hall, 45, of Hurricane, fraud and related activity in connection with an access device, grand larceny and possession of a stolen vehicle; James Edward Perdue, 47, of Hurricane, fraud and related activity in connection with an access device; Christian Michael Jones, 21, of South Charleston, wanton endangerment, domestic battery, domestic assault and brandishing; James Marshall Shaw, age and address unknown, wanton endangerment; Dennis Lee Lovejoy Jr., 40, of Charleston, strangulation, domestic battery and stalking; Michael Paul Martin, 38, of Charleston, third offense domestic battery, fleeing on foot and obstructing; Allen David Pettry, of Miami, burglary and first-degree arson; Joseph Wayne Smith, 28, of Charleston, third offense shoplifting; Randy George Vance, 59, of Elkview, burglary, malicious wounding, kidnapping, use or presentment of a firearm during the commission of a felony; Joseph Robert Taylor, 24, of Elkview, burglary, malicious wounding, kidnapping, use or presentment of a firearm during the commission of a felony and wanton endangerment; Eric Allen White, 42, of Dunbar, attempted grand larceny and possession of a stolen vehicle; Samantha Brooke Priddy, 29, of Huntington, attempted grand larceny and possession of a stolen vehicle.
Jobard Shaw, 43, of Dunbar, second-degree sexual assault, kidnapping and second-offense domestic battery.
Reach Kate White at 304-348-1723, kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.