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NILES — More testimony was heard Tuesday in the preliminary hearing against a Missouri man accused of killing a Niles man in late September. The hearing began last week and will continue Nov. 28 before Berrien County Trial Judge Jennifer Smith.

James Phillip Perry, 29, of St. Louis, Missouri, faces four felony charges in connection with the Sept. 30 shooting death of Luke James Botica, 28, of Niles. He is charged with open murder, felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The open murder charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, the possession of a firearm by a felony is a five year felony, and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony carries a two year penalty consecutive to the other penalties.

Berrien County Assistant Prosecutor Kate Arnold called one witness during Tuesday’s hearing. Niles Detective/Sergeant Nathan Adamczyk testified that he arrived on the scene shortly after 11:15 p.m. at the residence in the 1600 block of North 12^th Street after police received a call of a shooting.

He said medics were on the scene attending to Botica who was lying on his right side with a gunshot wound to his head when he arrived at the single family residence. He noted that Botica was transported to Corewell Health, Niles where he was pronounced dead.

Botica’s body was then transported to WMed in Kalamazoo for an autopsy. Adamczyk said the autopsy conclusion was that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

Adamczyk also testified to investigating Perry’s criminal record. He had no criminal convictions in Michigan but had convictions in Missouri including ones for burglary and theft.

Perry, who fired his attorney earlier Tuesday, only questioned the detective about whether officers had been wearing body cameras, the answer to which was yes. Perry then said he wanted to call a witness who was not in the courtroom and who had not been subpoenaed.

Arnold said after the hearing that the person Perry wants to call to testify was at the home the evening of the alleged murder but wasn’t present when the shooting took place or when police arrived.

She said Michael James White, 72, of Niles was the only witness to testify last week. White said he was he was on his phone that evening and heard Perry and Botica arguing over drugs and money.

White witnessed the shooting and told police that Botica did not have a weapon in his hands and put his hands in the air just before Perry fired one shot which hit Botica in the head.

The probable cause statement indicated that Perry claimed that he only pulled his weapon because Botica was pointing a pistol at him. He said Botica put his gun down but then went into another room and got a shotgun which he pointed at Perry when Perry shot him. A search of the home found three firearms including Perry’s.

Much of Tuesday’s hearing was spent dealing with Perry’s decision to fire his attorney, Public Defender Carri Briseno, and represent himself in court proceedings.

Judge Smith questioned Perry extensively about his decision to fire Briseno and the perils of representing himself but in the end allowed him to do so. Perry said he had defended himself previously in misdemeanor cases in Missouri. Briseno will stay on the case as a stand-by attorney.

Perry told Judge Smith that there hadn’t been a public indictment in the case, he had been falsely arrested and he hadn’t received all the police evidence. He did acknowledge he had received a copy of the autopsy report which was introduced into evidence Tuesday.

Judge Smith took time to explain the process in Michigan which does not involve a “public indictment” but a preliminary hearing where prosecutors must establish probable cause that an incident occurred and the defendant committed the offense. She said a trial is then held to determine guilt or innocence.