Court Opinion

ID: 9588602
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:36:12.847316+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:43:33.644176
License: Public Domain

Judge PHILLIPS
concurring in the result.
I agree that the evidence is not sufficient to establish that defendant shot the decedent. For according to the evidence: Of *151the only two shots defendant fired one lodged in a pine tree and was not shown to have any human blood or tissue on it, and the other hit a deer, apparently not on the line or in the vicinity where the decedent was; at least one other hunter, other than the defendant and decedent was in the area; the decedent could have been shot any time that day and no evidence was presented that defendant was the only one to shoot a rifle in that area during that time. While the testimony of the civil engineer, who made no microscopic or other scientific examination, that the bullet in the pine tree had no blood or human tissue on it establishes nothing since he was a witness for the defendant, the other evidence does not support the inference that the bullet that hit the decedent was one of the two that defendant shot.
But I do not agree that the evidence is not sufficient to establish defendant’s culpable negligence. Shooting a high-powered rifle that can propel a lethal charge for upwards of a mile into an area where other people are likely to be, as defendant did here, is the very embodiment of culpable negligence in my opinion; and that he was on his own premises hunting deer when he fired the gun and there is no law against using such weapons for that purpose is beside the point.