We thought it was the true story of an MGB that was saved from a certain
crushing, thanks to a well-placed window-washer safety net.
Bob
On Mon, 9 Feb 1998 11:17:14 -0800 (PST) "John J. Peloquin"
<peloquin@mamba.bio.uci.edu> writes:
>Dear Netters,
>
>The veracity of this story is, IMHO, open to question, as it is the
>plot
>of a recent episode of my favorite television show, "Homicide" from a
>few
>weeks back.
>
> Mon, 9 Feb 1998, doug russell wrote:
>
>=%O
>=%OTry this true lagal story on for size ... it's long but worth it.
>=%O
>=%ODr. Doug
>=%O
>=%O<Old Stuff>
>=%OKnowing this is way off topic, I will consider myself flamed in
>advance.
>=%OWould appreciate the assistance of those with a more scientific
>mind than
>=%Omy own:
>=%O
>=%OAm working on a project for school (an Evidence course). Scenario:
>
>=%O
>=%O<Major Snip of remaining old stuff>
>=%O
>=%O<New Stuff>
>=%O
>=%OAt the 1994 annual awards dinner given by the American Association
>for
>=%OForensic Science, AAFS President Don Harper Mills astounded his
>audience
>=%Oin San Diego with the legal complications of a bizarre death. Here
>is
>=%Othe story:
>=%O
>=%O"On 23 March 1994, the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald
>Opus
>=%Oand concluded that he died from a shotgun wound of the head. The
>decedent
>=%Ohad jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit
>suicide
>=%O(he left a note indicating his despondency). As he fell past the
>ninth
>=%Ofloor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a
>window, which
>=%Okilled him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the decedent was
>aware that
>=%Oa safety net had been erected at the eighth floor level to protect
>some
>=%Owindow washers and that Opus would not have been able to complete
>his
>=%Osuicide anyway because of this.
>=%O
>=%O"Ordinarily," Dr. Mills continued, "a person who sets out to commit
>=%Osuicide ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be
>what
>=%Ohe intended. That Opus was shot on the way to certain death nine
>stories
>=%Obelow probably would not have changed his mode of death from
>suicide to
>=%Ohomicide." But the fact that his suicidal intent would not have
>been
>=%Osuccessful caused the medical examiner to feel that he had a
>homicide
>=%Oon his hands.
>=%O
>=%OThe room on the ninth floor whence the shotgun blast emanated was
>=%Ooccupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing and he
>was
>=%Othreatening her with the shotgun. He was so upset that, when he
>pulled
>=%Othe trigger, he completely missed his wife and the pellets went
>through
>=%Othe window striking Opus.
>=%O
>=%OWhen one intends to kill subject A but kills subject B in the
>attempt,
>=%Oone is guilty of the murder of subject B. When confronted with
>this
>=%Ocharge, the old man and his wife were both adamant that neither
>knew
>=%Othat the shotgun was loaded. The old man said it was his
>long-standing
>=%Ohabit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no
>=%Ointention to murder her. Therefore, the killing of Opus appeared to
>be
>=%Oan accident. That is, the gun had been accidentally loaded.
>=%O
>=%OThe continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old
>=%Ocouple's son loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to
>the
>=%Ofatal incident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her
>son's
>=%Ofinancial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father
>to
>=%Ouse the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation
>that
>=%Ohis father would shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of
>murder
>=%Oon the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.
>=%O
>=%OThere was an exquisite twist. Further investigation revealed that
>the
>=%Oson [Ronald Opus] had become increasingly despondent over the
>failure of his
>=%Oattempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off
>the
>=%Oten-story building on March 23, only to be killed by a shotgun
>blast through
>=%Oa ninth-story window.
>=%O
>=%OThe medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
>=%O
>
>"Never ascribe to Malice that which can be explained by Ignorance"
>
>John J. Peloquin
>Molecular Biology &
> Biochemistry
>3205 BioSciences II
>UC IRVINE
>Irvine, CA 92697-3900
>jpeloqui@uci.edu
>
>
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