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.
In 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 Associated Press, Reported by Kurt Westervelt
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.
In 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 Associated Press, Reported by Kurt Westervelt
