11-24-2004, 07:48 PM
From an email, sorry for the >
> Do you like to read a good murder mystery? Not even Law
> and Order would attempt to capture this mess. This is an unbelievable
> twist of fate!!!
>
>
>
> 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, Ronald Opus, had actually murdered himself.
>
>
>
> So the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
>
>
>
> A true story from Associated Press, (Reported by Kurt Westervelt)
> Do you like to read a good murder mystery? Not even Law
> and Order would attempt to capture this mess. This is an unbelievable
> twist of fate!!!
>
>
>
> 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, Ronald Opus, had actually murdered himself.
>
>
>
> So the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
>
>
>
> A true story from Associated Press, (Reported by Kurt Westervelt)