Elderly Portland train passenger cleared of attempted murder for shooting crazed flasher

An elderly train passenger has been cleared of attempted murder for shooting a crazed homeless flasher who exposed himself and threatened to rape his partner in Oregon.Michael Grover Phill, 71, argued that he acted in self-defense when he shot 40-year-old Lance Hicks after he threatened him and his legally blind partner on the MAX train in North Portland, the Oregonian reported.Hicks, who has a history of mental illness, boarded the train and approached Phill and his partner while exposing himself and making threats.“All of the crotch of his pants is cut out, and his penis is in his hand, and he’s snarling,” Phill told the judge at Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland earlier this month.Hicks also threatened to rob Phill and sexually assault his partner during the terrifying experience in the early hours of Jan.30.The couple got up to leave, but Hicks continued to advance toward them, at which point Phill pulled his handgun from his jacket, shot the crazed homeless man once in the thigh, and fled.Phill said he shouted, “Do not run up on me!” at Hicks, who kept coming toward him, before he opened fire.“I’m sorry to say that I had to [shoot him].

I didn’t want to,” Phill told his defense attorney, Henry Oostrom-Shah.Phill was charged with attempted murder, assault, and unlawful use of a weapon, as well as with being a felon in possession of a firearm, and could have faced around 10 years in prison.But the jury refused to find him guilty of the shooting, although he was convicted of the firearm possession charges.Phill was sentenced to roughly two years in prison during a hearing last week, despite Oostrom-Shah asking that he receive only probation, with no jail or prison given his age, poor health, and the decade since his last felony conviction.“I can’t and won’t punish him for the actual shooting.But I do believe that simply having the gun in his possession … may have emboldened him to do things that a reasonable person wouldn’t h...