Man won't be charged in shooting death.

Byline: SUSAN PALMER The Register-Guard

Prosecutors will file no charges against a Pleasant Hill man who fatally shot a teen-ager last month during a dispute over driving too fast down a neighborhood road.

The decision angered the dead teen's family and friends, some of whom witnessed the shooting.

Raymond Gulley, 23, of Pleasant Hill shot Justin Adams, 18, in self-defense after Adams pulled a hunting knife on him, according to a six-page memo describing the investigation by the Lane County district attorney's office.

One witness also initially lied to investigators about the knife, Assistant District Attorney Robert Gorham said in the memo.

"The simple fact of the matter is that in Oregon when an angry, aggressive person draws a knife and steps toward you, you may fire your gun until that person goes down," Gorham said.

Tanya Adams, the teen-ager's sister, said authorities had told the family that prosecutors probably wouldn't file charges, but the decision still came as a shock.

"I am very upset over it," she said. "He murdered my brother and he is walking free on the streets? I think it should be up to a jury of his peers and a judge to decide."

According to the memo, the dispute had been simmering for two weeks: Gulley was mad because Adams and his cousin, who lived near Gulley, regularly drove fast down Edenvale Road.

Gulley had complained to the Lane County sheriff's office about the speeding, the memo said, and was told he needed to get the license number of the vehicle and the name of the driver before deputies could respond.

On Jan. 22, Adams sped past Gulley's home once and then again on his way out. That's when Gulley stepped into the road with paper pad and pencil, witnesses said in the memo.

Adams had to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting Gulley, witnesses said.

The teen-ager then got out of the Toyota 4Runner he was driving, and Gulley asked for his name, but Adams wouldn't give it. Witnesses all agree that Adams then shoved Gulley off the road, the memo said.

Gulley told officers that Adams pulled a hunting knife from his pocket, and that's when Gulley pulled out his gun and shot Adams three times.

Witnesses initially denied seeing a knife, but a 19-year-old girl who was in Adams' car later changed her story, the memo said.

"She observed Justin Adams take a knife out of his pocket, open it up and expose the blade holding it at his side.

`She indicated that immediately Mr. Gulley pulled a gun from his coat and shot three times," the memo said.

The same witness later saw the knife on the ground, picked it up and tried to slash Gulley's tires with it, the memo said. Then she threw the knife in the blackberries on the other side of the road.

Lane County sheriff's investigators cut the blackberry bushes back and found a bluish-green knife with holes in the handle.

It was similar to the description Gulley had given them, the memo said.

Tillie Mullins, Adams' girlfriend who was also in the 4Runner that day, has insisted throughout the investigation that there was no knife. She said the other witness was unreliable.

"I don't see how she could have seen him holding a knife, because she was sitting behind me," Mullins said.

"I saw his hands the whole time and there was no knife. ... It blows me away that this guy is getting off," she said.

When a defendant claims self-defense, the state must disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt, Gorham said in the memo.

"It is unfortunate that all the state's witnesses either did not see the circumstances accurately or have actively lied in an attempt to unfairly characterize the circumstances surrounding Mr. Adams' death," Gorham said.