December 4, 2023
Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced today that a Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge sentenced Joseph Dennis, 24, to 14 years in prison for the fatal shooting of Michael Qualls, 26, in spring 2021.
Incident
On May 5, 2021, law enforcement responded to reports of a shooting near the TriMet MAX station at SE 172nd Avenue and East Burnside Street in Gresham. Upon arrival, officers found a male victim, later identified as Michael Qualls, deceased from a gunshot wound to the head. Law enforcement located an extensive amount of video surveillance, including grainy footage of a lone gunman rushing up to Qualls and shooting him as he approached the MAX platform with a friend. Detectives quickly identified Joseph Dennis as the shooter, only to learn that Dennis had fled the state. Undeterred, detectives tracked Dennis all the way to Tampa, Florida, where police arrested him on August 21, 2021. The DA’s office extradited him back to Oregon a short time later. The DA’s Office presented the case to a grand jury, which returned a true bill of indictment on February 28, 2022, for one count of Murder in the Second Degree with a Firearm.
Plea and Sentencing
Deputy District Attorneys Brad Kalbaugh and Branden Meadows represented the state in this case. As part of a plea agreement negotiated with the defendant and his counsel, Dennis pled guilty on October 31, 2023, to one count of Manslaughter in the First Degree with a Firearm. Judge Benjamin Souede accepted the plea and imposed the 14-year prison sentence on December 1, 2023. Dennis will serve his sentence in the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections.
The DA’s Office would like to thank Gresham Police Detective Justin Pick and the entire East Multnomah County Major Crimes team for all of the impressive work and unfaltering dedication on this difficult case.
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