LISBON — The man accused of shooting James Powell to death on May 15 in East Liverpool is now facing charges of aggravated murder, murder, two firearm specifications and tampering with evidence.

Daniel Clayton Whitley, 33, Wilbert Avenue, East Liverpool, was openly indicted by the Columbiana County Grand Jury this week, with his case now assigned to Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton, with arraignment set for 1 p.m. July 31, also before Bickerton.

He remains jailed under a $1 million cash or surety bond. Thomas Will, the defense attorney hired to represent him at county Municipal Court for a single count of murder, also will represent him in Common Pleas Court.

Whitley’s case had been bound over for consideration by the grand jury after a preliminary hearing was held at county Municipal Court at the beginning of June.

During that hearing, Judge Tim McNicol heard testimony about Whitley’s alleged toxic relationship with the victim, about video evidence of him saying the victim’s girlfriend, who had children with Whitley, was going to watch the victim die and about gun and bullet evidence.

After hearing testimony from two different East Liverpool police officers, McNicol ruled there was probable cause to bind the case over to the grand jury.

The charges of aggravated murder and murder are both unclassified felonies, with the aggravated murder carrying a possible maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Each of the firearm specifications carry mandatory three-year prison terms. The tampering with evidence charge is a third-degree felony which carries a possible sentence of up to 36 months in prison.

Whitley was taken into custody the night of the shooting after being found hiding under the porch of a residence.

According to the indictment, Whitley on May 15, 2025 “did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the death of James E. Powell” and also used a firearm to facilitate the offense.

Detective Jon Price and Patrolman George Anderson, both of the East Liverpool Police Department, were the officers who testified during the preliminary hearing. Anderson was first on the scene after being called at 6:25 p.m. May 15 for a shooting and found the victim later identified as Powell unresponsive with no signs of life. After the victim was taken away by EMS, Anderson said he started gathering statements, with multiple witnesses to the shooting. He said he made contact with a woman who was picking up items he identified as groceries from the ground. He said she was frantic and said “my baby daddy did this.”

Price testified that the woman in question was dating Powell at the time and had children with Whitley. He said the relationship between Powell and Whitley was “very toxic.”

“I learned through the course of my investigation that Daniel Whitley was not fond of James,” Price said.

A .22-caliber shell casing was found at the scene of the shooting and a block of .22-caliber shells of unfired ammunition was found at Whitley’s residence after a roommate let police inside. Some of the spaces were empty. Price also then talked about finding a .22-caliber handgun in the back of a pickup on Chester Avenue in a bunch of rubble which matched the caliber of casing at the scene of the shooting. Price said there were no other suspects and a dark-colored SUV witnesses saw leaving the scene was found, registered to Whitley. Price admitted there was no testing of Whitley for gunshot residue, but there was a search warrant issued for DNA and for his phone, with information retrieved from the phone.

Powell was 58 years old at the time of his death, found with one gunshot wound to the chest. The gun found was reportedly loaded with one round in the chamber and Price thought four rounds were in the magazine.

mgreier@mojonews.com