A Belle man charged with first-degree murder after a shooting last week in Kanawha City appeared in court for his preliminary hearing.
Kerry Wiley, 64, of Belle is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Ty Hall, 55, of Charleston.
Police said Wiley shot Hall about 7:30 p.m. Friday in the garage of a home in the 5100 block of Lancaster Avenue. Officers said Wiley arrived at the residence to confront Hall, who had fired him from a construction job.
Charleston Police Det. Robert Welsh was the only witness to testify during the hearing. Welsh testified that Wiley showed up at Hall's home armed with a gun and appeared "agitated" in a surveillance video that was recovered from the scene.
Welsh said Wiley went to the back of Hall's home, rang a doorbell and someone answered. Welsh said the video does not have audio but Wiley could be seen in the video adjusting a gun in the back of his pants.
"He walks in to the, what we now know as the garage. Once he's in the garage, there are no cameras inside the garage," Welsh told the court.
The detective said video then showed another man run out of the garage before Wiley came out. "He walks out with a gun in his hand and as he is walking down the sidewalk, he sticks the gun back in the back of his pants, exits the front gate, drives through the neighbor's yard and leaves," Welsh said.
During an interview with police after his arrest several hours later, Wiley did admit to shooting the victim, Welsh said .
"He stated that there was an argument and that he did end up shooting him," the detective said.
Welsh said Wiley was taken into custody wearing the same clothes he was wearing in the surveillance video. He did note that one of the sleeves had been ripped off Wiley's shirt and it was not ripped when he initially entered the garage but when he came out, it was.
"It was ripped and hanging from him when he came out and it was the same way when we talked to him later," Welsh said.
Wiley told detectives that he had ditched the gun used in the shooting before he was taken into custody.
"During the interview, he stated that as he was driving down what he called Piedmont Road, but later determined to be Route 60, he took the gun, held it out the driver's window and threw it over the truck in between the interstate between Daniel Boone Park and the Moose Lodge," Welsh testified.
Welsh said the gun has not been recovered.
Kanawha County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Gainer asked the detective if Wiley admitted to killing Hall.
"He admitted to bringing the gun there and the gun going off as the struggle went on," Welsh replied.
Defense attorney Justin Collin asked Welsh about Wiley's other comments during the interview with police. Welsh said that Wiley told his wife, who had been at Hall's home before the incident inquiring about her husband losing his job, that he was going to Hall's home to retrieve tools from him. Welsh also said, to his knowledge, there were none of Wiley's tools at Hall's home.
Hall had allegedly told Wiley's wife that Wiley had "disrespected" him on the job.
Wiley also told police he had been struck on the head by Hall. Welsh testified that there were no visible injuries to Wiley.
Collin argued in closing that the state had not produced evidence that would prove the elements of first-degree murder, which include pre-meditation.
"They produced evidence that would demonstrate voluntary or involuntary manslaughter," Collin said.
Magistrate Ward Harsbarger ruled there was probable cause to send the case to a grand jury.
Wiley will remain in the South Central Regional Jail with no bond set.