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Grand jury does not indict Liberty man in fatal shooting of step-grandfather
By Sarah Lehr
WARREN
A Trumbull County grand jury has declined to indict a Liberty Township man on a felony murder charge in the death of his stepgrandfather.
Police arrested Branden Cagley, 30, on May 1 in the killing of James W. Phillips, 81, of the same township address.
Cagley had called Trumbull County 911 that day, saying he had shot Phillips to protect his grandmother, 80, from a beating. Liberty fire officials arrived at the Lucretia Drive home shortly before 4 p.m. and found Phillips dead.
A woman’s voice also can be heard in the 911 call. At one point, she said, “He was gonna hurt Branden.”
Police seized a .38-caliber revolver and ammunition in connection with the incident.
“There’s no question it was the right decision,” Atty. Robert Shaker, who is representing Cagley, said of the grand jury’s decision not to indict. “[Cagley] was protecting his own life and the life of his grandmother.”
Shaker said his client is autistic and had paid rent to live in a room of the Lucretia Drive home. Liberty police reports from May state that Cagley worked in housekeeping for St. Joseph Warren Hospital.
In 2007, Phillips called police to report he was concerned Cagley had not yet returned home at 2:30 a.m. A police-call record from that incident states Cagley “is reported to be slow.”
A Girard court cleared Phillips of a misdemeanor assault charge in 2010. Police charged Phillips after a neighbor said he punched her in the mouth during an argument.
The Trumbull County Coroner’s office ruled Phillips’ death a homicide. His death marks the third homicide in Liberty Township in 2016.
Officers found Jesse Cooper, 62, of Frederick Street and Gloria Khoury, 39, of Logan Avenue dead from gunshot wounds April 7 in Cooper’s apartment. Liberty Police Chief Richard Tisone said officers are following leads but have not yet made arrests in those homicides.
The deaths of Khoury and Cooper this year were the first homicides in the township since the 2009 shooting deaths of a 28-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter.