A Portland woman who fatally shot her boyfriend during a drunken argument in 2022 was found guilty Thursday of first-degree manslaughter.
Barbara Michelle, 44, dabbed her face with a tissue as she learned the Multnomah County Circuit Court jury didn’t believe she had shot her boyfriend in self-defense as they argued in the street outside the Bluebird Tavern about 1:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day 2022.
The boyfriend, 41-year-old Justin Williams, died in a hospital on Nov. 26, the birthday of his daughter from a previous relationship, according to a family member.
Prosecutors had charged Michelle with second-degree murder, noting her last words as she left the tavern minutes earlier were “I’m going to kill him.”
While Michelle testified that the comment to the tavern’s bartender was exasperated humor, Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero told the jury during closing arguments: “Such jokes don’t turn out to be funny when a man ends up dead.”
Michelle, who grew up in St. Johns and worked as a bartender at the nearby Perch tavern, had finished her shift Nov. 23 but hung around to drink when Williams, her boyfriend of a few months, showed up. Michelle testified that he was annoyed she hadn’t been answering her phone, but surveillance footage showed the two were soon carousing in good spirits.
They drove to the Bluebird Tavern, where Williams was a regular, around midnight and continued drinking.
Surveillance cameras did not record audio of their conversations, though Michelle testified they argued about the meaning of Thanksgiving. Attorneys said both Michelle and Williams were of Native American heritage, and that Michelle did not celebrate Thanksgiving, while Willaims did.
“He kept poking at me. He was being rude. So rude. He just kept standing over me,” Michelle testified, claiming she tried to de-escalate the situation.
Marrero pointed to evidence to the contrary — footage showing Michelle leaning into Williams and gesturing in his face as he stood passively in a corner.
In any event, Williams later slammed his hand into the table, knocking over a glass and prompting a bartender to ask them to leave. Williams stalked out and threw Michelle’s coat into the street.
Once they were both outside, camera footage showed Michelle and Williams each shoving each other once.
“I was scared. He hadn’t done that before,” Michelle testified.
What happened next wasn’t captured by surveillance cameras, but two bystanders who didn’t know the couple said the two continued arguing, with Michelle eventually pulling a revolver from her purse and yelling that she would “blow his head off,” using a curse.
Defense attorney Joshua McCain said Michelle told Williams to stay away from her, but he advanced, prompting her to fire a warning shot in the ground.
“He still doesn’t stop coming at her,” McCain said.
Michelle then shot Williams once in the chest as he took another step forward, lodging a bullet in his spine.
Marrero said Michelle could have grabbed the pepper spray in her purse instead of the gun, or simply walked away.
“You don’t get to shoot somebody because they pushed you,” Marrero said. “She brought a gun to a shoving match.”
The jury found that Michelle had committed first-degree manslaughter, which means the defendant acted with reckless indifference, but not intentionally.
Circuit Judge Angela Lucero is set to sentence Michelle on Tuesday. She faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in state prison.
— Zane Sparling; zsparling@oregonian.com; 503-319-7083; @pdxzane
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