Oregon man gets life sentence for Portland shooting death

PORTLAND — A Portland man who killed another man and wounded two others in a shooting as people left a concert at an indoor arena in Portland has been sentenced to life in prison.

Robert Jay James, 39, received the sentence Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court and must serve 30 years before he’s eligible for parole.

James opened fire at a passing Dodge Durango from a few feet away in the October 2018 shooting near the Moda Center as people left a concert.

James contended he saw someone in the Durango with a gun and fired in self-defense. But Circuit Judge Kathleen M. Dailey said James fired at the vehicle as it drove away, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

“Even if what you were saying was true, at some time, in that whole thing it stopped being true,” she said. “You can’t be shooting at an exiting vehicle and keep shooting, shooting, shooting and expect that to be self-defense.”

Markell Devon Jones, 44, was shot in the head, chest, right arm and neck. He died shortly after at a hospital. The vehicle driver was hit in the right upper arm, and a young woman two blocks away was hit in the neck with a bullet fragment.