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RedSoxFan3
Admirable
Legendary Hero
Fan of Red Sox
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posted June 14, 2007 05:43 AM |
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Murder or Suicide?
At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, the American Association for Forensic Science President, Dr. Don Harper astounded his audience with the legal complications of a bizarre death. This was his 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 indicting his despondency. As he fell past the 9th floor, his life was interrupted violently 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 8th floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have completed 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 he what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide." That Mr Opus was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would have not 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 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 is 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 though the 9th story window.
The son, Ronald Opus, had actually murdered himself. So the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
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Go Red Sox!
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Miru
Supreme Hero
A leaf in the river of time
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posted June 15, 2007 12:53 AM |
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Don't you just hate it when that happens? 
How 'bout this one from Darwin awards:
Quote:
In France, Jacques LeFevrier left nothing to chance when he decided to commit suicide. He stood atop a sheer cliff and tied a noose around his neck. He tied the other end of the rope to a large rock. He drank some poison and set fire to his clothes. He even tried to shoot himself at the last moment. He jumped and fired the pistol.
The bullet missed him completely and cut through the rope above him. Now freed from the threat of hanging, he plunged into the sea. The dunking extinguished the flames and made him vomit the poison. He was dragged out of the water by a kind fisherman and was taken to a hospital, where he died of hypothermia.
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Daystar
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Legendary Hero
Back from the Dead
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posted June 15, 2007 01:28 AM |
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confusing...
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How exactly is luck a skill?
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Gnoll_Mage
Responsible
Supreme Hero
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posted June 15, 2007 03:23 PM |
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If Ronald had been, say, window-cleaning when he was shot, and not trying to kill himself, would that have been suicide too?
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TitaniumAlloy
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Professional
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posted June 15, 2007 03:28 PM |
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Thank god this isn't a debate about Kurt Cobain...
And dude that story's crazy... such an unlikely series of events lol. what are the chances.
but isn't threatening your wife with a shotgun a crime, loaded or not? 
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John says to live above hell.
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william
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
LummoxLewis
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posted June 15, 2007 03:33 PM |
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Quote:
but isn't threatening your wife with a shotgun a crime, loaded or not?
That is what I would have thought 
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~Ticking away the moments that
make up a dull day, Fritter and
waste the hours in an off-hand
way~
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TitaniumAlloy
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Professional
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posted June 15, 2007 03:37 PM |
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Regardless of the twist at the end, the son wouldn't have been responsible for the murder of the man jumping off the building. He would be held accountable for endangering the mother, but not direct responsibility for the husband shooting and missing... ?
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John says to live above hell.
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EliteKill
Promising
The Starless
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posted June 15, 2007 06:31 PM |
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Quote:
In France, Jacques LeFevrier left nothing to chance when he decided to commit suicide. He stood atop a sheer cliff and tied a noose around his neck. He tied the other end of the rope to a large rock. He drank some poison and set fire to his clothes. He even tried to shoot himself at the last moment. He jumped and fired the pistol.
The bullet missed him completely and cut through the rope above him. Now freed from the threat of hanging, he plunged into the sea. The dunking extinguished the flames and made him vomit the poison. He was dragged out of the water by a kind fisherman and was taken to a hospital, where he died of hypothermia.
http://www.aeflash.com/
Scroll down and click on Overkill... LOL
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SwampLord
Supreme Hero
Lord of the Swamp
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posted June 16, 2007 03:05 PM |
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I remember a Darwin Award that went to someone who used a Rocket Assisted Take-Off on their Jagaur.
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