Court Opinion

ID: 9588601
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:36:12.843139+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:55.969635
License: Public Domain

HEDRICK, Chief Judge.
Involuntary manslaughter is the unlawful and unintentional killing of another human being without malice and which proximately results from the commission of an unlawful act not amounting to a felony or not naturally dangerous to human life, or from the commission of some act done in an unlawful or culpably negligent manner, or from the culpable omission to perform some legal duty. State v. Everhart, 291 N.C. 700, 231 S.E.2d 604 (1977). In this case, the State sought to show that defendant was culpably negligent in discharging his 30.06 rifle on 25 November 1987, and that such negligence proximately caused the death of Paul Spencer. Culpable negligence in criminal law requires more than the negligence required to sustain a tort recovery. Id. It must be such reckless or careless behavior that the act “imports a thoughtless disregard of the consequences of the act or the act shows a heedless indifference to the rights and safety of others.” Id. at 702, 231 S.E.2d at 606.
When evidence introduced by the State consists of exculpatory statements of the defendant which are not contradicted or shown to be false by any other facts or circumstances in evidence, the State is bound by those statements. State v. Bolin, 281 N.C. 415, 189 S.E.2d 235 (1972); State v. Wagner, 50 N.C. App. 286, 273 S.E.2d 33 (1981).
When the evidence in the present case is considered in light of the foregoing principles of law, we hold that evidence is insufficient to permit the jury to find that defendant’s conduct in firing his 30.06 rifle at a deer on 25 November 1987 was culpable negligence, or even that defendant’s firing of his rifle proximately caused the death of Paul Spencer.
*150The State’s evidence, excluding defendant’s stipulations and his statements made to Detective Bentley and Randy Pennell, tends to show only that Paul Spencer was killed sometime between 6:00 a.m. on 25 November 1987 and 9:20 a.m. on 26 November 1987 when he was struck in the head by a bullet from a high-powered rifle fired from a “distance.” The State necessarily relied upon defendant’s stipulations and defendant’s statements to Detective Bentley and Randy Pennell to involve defendant in any way in the tragic death of Spencer. When defendant’s stipulations and statements are considered, the State’s evidence tends to show only that defendant was hunting on the morning of 25 November 1987 in the area where Spencer’s body was found the following day. Defendant stated that he fired his rifle at a running deer and missed. The shell casing from this shot was found 453 feet from Spencer’s body. Defendant’s stipulations and statements tend to show the bullet from this shot was embedded in a tree 97 feet from Spencer’s body, and this bullet bore no evidence of having struck “flesh.” Defendant’s statements further tend to show he later shot and killed a deer. Defendant’s statements account for both shots fired by him. There is no evidence in this record tending to show defendant was negligent in firing his rifle, and no evidence that a bullet from his gun was the proximate cause of Spencer’s death. Under the existing law of this State, it is not negligent to hunt deer with a 30.06 rifle.
The case cited by the State to support its contentions, State v. Hall, 60 N.C. App. 450, 299 S.E.2d 680 (1983), is clearly distinguishable on its facts. In Hall, the evidence tended to show that the defendant fired “after he saw a brown and white spot on what he thought was a deer,” and he immediately told a companion, “I think I shot a man.”
The judgment is reversed.
Reversed.
Judge Arnold concurs.
Judge PHILLIPS concurs in the result.