Man accused of shooting during Columbus cab company feud acquitted by jury
A Columbus jury has found a man not guilty of aggravated assault in a 2017 shooting involving a Columbus cab company dispute.
Malcom Milton McMiller, 51, was acquitted of that felony charge Friday afternoon after a jury deliberated about seven hours, said his defense attorney, Anthony Johnson. The jury found McMiller guilty of having a firearm while committing a felony and of discharging a gun near a public street.
Johnson said he questions whether those convictions are valid, as they are based on the underlying felony charge of aggravated assault, on which jurors found McMiller innocent.
Police initially reported that McMiller, the company manager, had insulted another man’s wife during a cab company dispute, prompting the man to confront McMiller around 2:20 p.m. April 15 at Radio/Co-Op Transportation Services, 1157 10th Ave.
During McMiller’s 2017 hearing in Columbus Recorder’s Court, a detective said that in the ensuing altercation, McMiller pulled a handgun and shot the man, who allegedly beat another cab company worker.
Johnson said Friday that trial testimony revealed the woman McMiller offended was not the victim’s spouse. The woman owned several of the cabs and had far more experience in the business, so she and McMiller butted heads over management, the attorney said.
“Malcom felt as if he could tell her what to do because he was the general manager,” Johnson wrote in an email to the Ledger-Enquirer. “She felt that he couldn’t tell her what to do because she had 30 years of experience and he only had three.”
The two had cursed each other out about a week before the shooting, he said.
Johnson said the defense maintained that on the day of the confrontation, McMiller’s cousin fired the gun in defense of himself and others.
“The employee that was beaten had some pretty bad injuries,” Johnson wrote. “Initially he passed out from his injuries.” He believes jurors acquitted McMiller of aggravated assault because of the self-defense claim.
He said Williams would have faced up to 26 years in prison, if convicted on all the charges. He’s now facing six years in confinement, if the verdict stands, the attorney said.