Charges dropped against Liley in brother's shooting death

The case against Lonnie Liley is over.

Bollinger County Prosecuting Attorney Heath Robins on Friday afternoon announced first-degree murder charges against Liley had been dropped.

"After giving this case a full and fair assessment, and after considering the evidence present at the coroner's inquest and the jury's finding, our system of justice requires us now to dismiss this case," Robins said in a news release.

Liley, 43, had been accused in the Jan. 23, 2014, shooting death of his brother, Jessie Liley. A jury trial had been set for Nov. 16 in Bollinger County.

Bollinger County Coroner Charles Hutchings assembled a jury to help find whether the killing was justifiable under Missouri's Castle Doctrine. On Sept. 14, a coroner's jury found Lonnie Liley had acted in self-defense.

During the inquest, the jury heard from Lonnie Liley's mother and the pathologist who performed Jessie Liley's autopsy. They also heard the 911 call Lonnie Liley made just after he shot his brother, watched videotapes of police interviewing witnesses and heard testimony from law-enforcement officers who worked the scene.

According to a probable-cause statement filed in the days after the shooting, Lonnie Liley told the Bollinger County Sheriff's Department he shot Jessie Liley, 50, in self-defense after the elder Liley shoved Lonnie Liley's mother out of the way and tried to grab his gun.

He told police his mother believed Jessie Liley and his girlfriend were using "dope" and earlier in the day had tried to evict them from the trailer where they lived, the statement said.

Pertinent address:

108 High St., Marble Hill, MO