Young Hunter Charged with Manslaughter
On Tuesday, the hunter in a case we have been following here was charged with first-degree manslaughter. In the case, a 14-year-old boy had accidentally shot and killed a 54-year-old woman hiking in the woods.
The charges stem from the fact that the boy did not have a clear view of his target but shot anyway. It happened on a foggy day, 120 yards from a popular hiking trail, with the victim wearing a blue jacket. The boy was hunting with his 16-year-old brother, but the grandfather had chosen to remain in the car a quarter-mile away. While the boy had taken all the proper and required hunter-education classes, he was certainly not abiding by the lessons that he had been taught in them.
According to news reports,the Skagit County prosecutor will file the charges and proceed with the case in Juvenile Court. The charges could carry a penalty of nine months in juvenile detention.
I have believed from the start that the hunter should be charged with a crime in this case. The actions he took were clearly irresponsible. A prosecution will emphasize the seriousness of his actions that fateful day. It will also show others that there are consequences for not being careful and following both legal and safety rules.
I would, however, recommend leniency in sentencing this particular boy, if he is indeed found to be guilty of having committed this crime. Some will be surprised by my saying this. If we can assume for the moment, though, that this kid is really the otherwise upstanding citizen that many news reports have said he is, then a 9-month sentence of detention is probably going to be more detrimental than helpful in this case. It will, of course, be for the judge who has reviewed all of the evidence in tis case to make that sort of decision.
This seems, however, to be the kind of case where some sort of community service or restitution plan would be of benefit for the boy. If he had done the same foolish thing and missed the woman, he would not perhaps have even been noticed. If this were not such an uncommon event, it would seem less spectacular in the press. The goal here is not revenge, it is teaching this young man a lesson. That lesson may be better learned by working in the forests, or perhaps by helping out in a medical facility where he might see the aftermath of people who have experienced gunshot wounds or accidents in general. Unless this boy has some yet unrevealed criminal history, one of these choices will likely be better than sitting in a room for nine months. Perhaps he could have the oportunity to share his story with others who might learn from it.
There are two tragedies here, that of the victim and that of the young hunter. There is not much left we can do now to help the woman other than to console her family. The young man will have to live with this event his whole life. We can use this opportunity to drag him deeper into a criminal mindset, or we can help him to understand the seriousness of his actions and give him the opportunity to attone for them. That could help to mittigate the tragedy that he and his family now face.
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