GREENVILLE — A 33-year-old Greenville man accused of shooting and killing his roommate in July plans to claim he acted in self-defense when his case goes to trial next month, according to court documents reported by the Dayton Daily News. Todd Black’s defense attorney filed a notice of self-defense in Darke County Common Pleas Court on November 6.
Black faces one count each of murder, involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide in the death of 26-year-old James Michael Corcoran, the Dayton Daily News reported. The charges are allegations, and Black is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
As part of the filing, the defense will provide evidence of self-defense, defense of another, or defense of his residence, the court filing stated, according to the Dayton Daily News. “We will provide information as to any prior incidents or circumstances related to the conduct of the alleged victim that we intend to offer into evidence, including specific acts,” defense attorney David A. Rohrer wrote, in a passage quoted by the Dayton Daily News from the filing.
The shooting happened around 1:45 a.m. on July 8, when Greenville police responded to an apartment in the 1100 block of Russ Road for a man reportedly threatening to shoot another man, according to court documents cited by the Dayton Daily News. When officers arrived, they found Corcoran with an apparent gunshot wound. Crews attempted life-saving measures, but Corcoran was pronounced dead at the scene.
During the investigation, police learned that Black had been living with Corcoran, Corcoran’s girlfriend and their child, according to the Dayton Daily News. “James and Black had an argument in the early hours of July 8, 2026,” an affidavit stated, in a passage quoted by the Dayton Daily News. “This argument became physical, and Black confronted James with a gun and shot James while inside the apartment.”
The self-defense notice sets up the central question the jury will be asked to decide: whether the prosecution’s account of a confrontation inside the apartment, as laid out in the affidavit, or the defense’s account of a man protecting himself or his home, matches the evidence presented at trial.
What happens next comes quickly. Black has a pretrial hearing scheduled for November 23 in Darke County Common Pleas Court, and his trial is set to begin on December 8, according to the Dayton Daily News. The pretrial hearing is expected to address what evidence — including the prior incidents the defense has signaled it wants to introduce — the jury will be permitted to hear.