Theos-Talk Archives (March 1997 Message tl00204)

E.J.:

>                         Suicide, Accident, Or Homicide?
>On March 23, the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and
>concluded that he died from a gunshot wound to
>the head caused by a shotgun. Investigation to that point had revealed that
>the decedent had jumped from the top of a
>ten-story building with the intent to commit suicide (he left a note
>indicating his despondency). As he passed the 9th floor on
>the way down, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window,
>killing him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the
>decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the 8th floor
>level to protect some window washers and that the
>decedent would not have been able to complete his intent to commit suicide
>because of this.
>
>Ordinarily, a person who starts into motion the events that lead to his
>death with a suicide intent ultimately commits suicide
>even though the mechanism might not be what he intended. That he was shot
>on the way to certain death nine stories below
>probably would not change his mode of death from suicide to homicide. But
>the fact that his suicide intent would not have been
>successful under any circumstance caused the medical examiner to feel that
>he had homicide on his hands.
>
>Further investigation led to the discovery that the room on the 9th floor
>from whence the shotgun blast emanated was occupied
>by an elderly man and his wife. He was threatening her with the shotgun
>because of an interspousal spat and became so upset
>that he could not hold the shotgun straight. Therefore, when he pulled the
>trigger, he completely missed his wife and the pellets
>went through the window striking the decedent.
>
>When one intends to kill subject A, but kills subject B in the attempt, one
>is guilty of the murder of subject B. The old man was
>confronted with this conclusion, but both he and his wife were adamant in
>stating that neither knew that the shotgun was
>loaded. It was the longtime habit of the old man to threaten his wife with
>an unloaded shotgun. He had no intent to murder her;
>therefore, the killing of the decedent appeared then to be an accident.
>That is, the gun had been accidentally loaded.
>But further investigation turned up a witness that their son was seen
>loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to the
>fatal accident. That investigation showed that the mother (the old lady)
>had cut off her son's financial support and her son,
>knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly,
>loaded the gun with the expectation that the father would
>shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son
>for the death of Ronald Opus.
>Further investigation revealed that the son became increasingly despondent
>over the failure of his attempt to get his mother
>murdered. This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23, only
>to be killed by a shotgun blast through a 9th story
>window.
>The medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
>(Dave's Note=My dad always said when it's your time to go it's your time to
>go.)
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>We are not all crazy --
>It is all in our heads,
>You have to seek your own salvation --
>In the end the final truth is between the lines,
>The narrow path gets harder to find --
>It is not what is done but rather a state of mind.
>
>Let There Be Light -- Always in All Ways,  e.j.}`-`{
>   http://home.earthlink.net/~ejlight/index1.html
>"On this Path effort never goes to waste and never a failure"
>
>------------------------------

I'd say that we choose our action (that is, if we are sane enough to know
what we are doing.  Who knows, maybe the insane also made a conscientious
choice.  It's just that it is illogical to us.), and that the outcome is
karma.  Now, as far as the legal aspect of it (in the U.S., anyway), the
only concern is with the fact that the son was killed, and that the father
was the one who shot him.  The father would probably get punished for
recklessly waving the gun, and especially for not checking its content.  I
doubt that he would serve any jail time, just excruciating trial time.

Thoa