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For the past three years, the Us & Them team has tracked the case of James Means, the 15-year-old boy who was shot and killed by 62-year-old William Pulliam on the East End of Charleston, W.Va.
The case got national attention partly because Pulliam is white and Means was black. This week, the story came to a sad unexpected conclusion.
Lacie Pierson, Courts Reporter for the Charleston Gazette Mail contributed to this report.
William Pulliam, the man who shot and killed 15-year-old James Means in Charleston, in November 2016, has died of an apparent suicide.
Kanawha County Prosecutors alerted James Means’ mother Thursday that William Pulliam had hung himself while in custody at Carter County Detention Center in Grayson, Kentucky.
The 65-year-old man pleaded guilty in August to second-degree murder.
U.S. Marshall Service Deputy Fred Lamey confirmed Pulliam’s death, but held off on confirming the death as a suicide until an autopsy can be performed.
Kentucky State Police officers are investigating Pulliam’s death. Trooper Bobby King said Pulliam was found unresponsive in his cell Thursday afternoon.
“Cellmates and jail staff attempted to revive Pulliam until Carter County EMS arrived. EMS continued resuscitation attempts but were ultimately unsuccessful,” Trooper King said in a statement. “Investigators do not suspect criminal activity played at role in Pulliam’s death and an autopsy is scheduled for today.”
Pulliam was originally charged with first-degree murder for killing Means on the East End of Charleston.
The story made national headlines — mostly because of what Pulliam said after he was arrested and confessed to shooting the 15-year-old African American boy. According to a police report, he told the arresting officer: “The way I look at it, that’s another piece of trash off the street.”
Pulliam’s death means that there will not be a sentencing hearing. Fay Adkins, Means’ mother, says she regrets that she now doesn’t have the opportunity to talk to Pulliam directly.
The Us & Them team has tracked the case of James Means – a 15-year-old boy who William Pulliam shot and killed in Charleston, W.Va., in November 2016. The case got national attention partly because Pulliam is white and Means was black. It was one of a number of shootings that focused on questions about racial injustice in our legal system. Last month, Pulliam agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder. A week later, he wrote to the judge and asked to revoke his plea. Last week the judge called Pulliam into court to get a clarification.
Last week, William Pulliam — a 65-year-old Charleston, West Virginia man — agreed to plead guilty to second degree murder. He was originally charged with first degree murder for killing an African-American teenager named James Means. On Tuesday, the judge received a letter from Pulliam, asking for the plea deal to be revoked.
On the day William Pulliam’s first degree murder trial was scheduled, Kanawha County Circuit Judge Charles King considered a plea arrangement instead.
During the hearing, Judge King asked Pulliam — several times and in several different ways — if he understood what he was agreeing to. Pulliam said he’d “had a lot of time to think about this” and felt that a plea was in his best interest.
But three days later, the judge got a hand-written note from Pulliam saying he “made the plea under duress.” He wrote his public defender is not able to give him a proper defense because she’s too busy.
Pulliam wrote that his attorney advised him that, if the case went before a jury, he’d probably lose the case. He also claimed if he was sentenced to a state prison, “James Means brother would be out to get [him.]”
William Pulliam told the judge he believes he can beat the charges and now requests a “pro bono lawyer.” He also wants a change of venue because what he calls, the “bad press [he’d] received” has vilified his “name and reputation.”
Judge King will now hold a hearing to consider whether or not to change the plea. That hearing date has yet to be announced.
Sources within the Kanawha County Prosecutor’s office tell me that people frequently ask to withdraw a plea. However, it’s unusual for a judge to allow the change. But they add, “if Pulliam wants to revoke his plea, it’s possible that the judge might let him.”
Pulliam shot and killed James Means a few days before Thanksgiving in 2016. The story made national headlines — mostly because of what Pulliam said after he was arrested and confessed to shooting the teenaged boy. He told the arresting officer: “The way I look at it, that’s another piece of trash off the street.”
The Means family has repeatedly said they do not believe they were getting the same justice that a white family would receive. When the plea deal was announced, Means’ mother Faye Adkins said she wanted the case to go to trial.
For nearly three years, the Us & Them team has followed the James Means’ case – a 15-year-old boy who was shot and killed in Charleston, WV, by William Pulliam, who was 62 years old at the time. The case got national attention partly because Pulliam is white and Means was black. It was one of a number of shootings that focused on questions about racial injustice in our legal system. Pulliam’s trial was scheduled to begin late this summer, but instead there’s been a surprise outcome.
For the past two and a half years, a first-degree murder case has worked its way through the courts in Charleston. A 15-year-old boy, James Means, was shot and killed in the city’s East End back in 2016.
An older white man named William Pulliam is charged with the shooting. Pulliam’s trial was scheduled to start this week, but instead, the Means family learned there’s a new twist in the case.
Trey Kay has been following the case, and in this episode, he and Lacie Pierson of the Charleston Gazette talk with members of the Means family about their frustration with the slow prosecution process.
