| Author |
Mission Completed... Well Sort Of... |
Fatal Rocko Willis
Fleet Admiral
Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003
Posts: 1336
From: Kentucky
|  Posted: 2005-04-13 08:55
At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS President, Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications of a bizarre death. Here is the story:
On March 23, 1994 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opus had jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide.
He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he fell past the ninth floor his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which killed him instantly.
Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.
"Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "Someone who sets out to commit suicide and ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide." That Mr. Opus was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not have been successful because of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel that he had a homicide on his hands.
The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorously and he was threatening her with a shotgun. The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the window striking Mr. Opus.
When one intends to kill subject "A" but kills subject "B" in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject "B." When confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife were both adamant and both said that they thought the shotgun was not loaded.
The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming the gun had been accidentally loaded.
The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident.
It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother.
Since the loader of the gun was aware of this, he was guilty of the murder even though he didn't actually pull the trigger.
The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son, for the death of Ronald Opus.
Now comes the exquisite twist. Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus.
He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window.
The son had actually murdered himself so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
A true story from the Associated Press, Reported by Kurt Westervelt.
_________________
|
Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2005-04-13 11:16
Oooooo.... I smell a CSI Episode! ROFL! Write it up & make millions! LOL
_________________
Darkspace: Twilight
|
2nd Lieutenant Amadeus
Admiral
Joined: March 17, 2004
Posts: 22
From: SC, MI, NC, VA, one of those places
| Posted: 2005-04-13 11:16
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/opus.htm
_________________
|
Binks
1st Rear Admiral
Joined: November 28, 2003
Posts: 469
| Posted: 2005-04-13 17:32
That is the oddest homicide/suicide story of all time...
_________________
Midshipmen still need Engineering or Supply Ships
Powered by Stormtroopers and Red Shirts
|
Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2005-04-13 18:21
Its still funny 
_________________
Darkspace: Twilight
|
Banshee
Grand Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: August 28, 2001
Posts: 2181
From: Philadelphia, PA
| Posted: 2005-04-14 03:51
That is one completely roundabout story... nice twist.. didnt think that happened in real life
_________________
|
Strom"DaBum"Moon
Cadet
ExtraTerrestrial Space Bums
Joined: September 29, 2002
Posts: 419
From: 29.740456 X -095.500764
| Posted: 2005-04-14 09:52
Thata a good one, had my CSI buff gf rolling around on the floor like a school girl.
_________________
Be ever vigilent in the dark of the void for we dance death in the path's without light
|
Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2005-04-14 15:37
You should have that happening anyway....
*hides from own g/f*
_________________
Darkspace: Twilight
|
Azreal
Chief Marshal
Joined: March 14, 2004
Posts: 2816
From: United State of Texas, Houston
| Posted: 2005-04-14 15:46
read it aloud. ROFL here
_________________
bucket link
|
Abandoned Mind
Fleet Admiral
Joined: December 08, 2002
Posts: 130
From: Brattleboro, Vermont
| Posted: 2005-04-14 20:34
That is a very complicated way to kill yourself.
_________________
|
Trekkie_zero
Cadet
Joined: October 14, 2003
Posts: 146
From: A state with too many A\'s....
| Posted: 2005-04-14 22:07
Wow... Thats a freaky story.
_________________
|
Fatal Rocko Willis
Fleet Admiral
Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003
Posts: 1336
From: Kentucky
| Posted: 2005-04-15 09:29
I thought so too... My better half has been sending little tidbits like this and the GM vs. Microsoft post. I just thought I would share them with the rest of you.
_________________
|
Fatal Rocko Willis
Fleet Admiral
Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003
Posts: 1336
From: Kentucky
| Posted: 2005-04-15 09:33
I thought so too... My better half has been sending little tidbits like this and the GM vs. Microsoft post. I just thought I would share them with the rest of you.
_________________
|
English
Deutsch
Nederlands
)
