- Impact
- 42
Hard to believe it is true, but fun to read anyway...
WAS IT MURDER OR SUICIDE ~ A TRUE STORY (but do I believe it? . . .)
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 10-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.
Dr. Mills continued, " Ordinarily, a person 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 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 unloaded. 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, if 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 10-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a
shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son had actually
murdered himself so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
--A true story from Associated Press, Report by Kurt Westervelt
ST
WAS IT MURDER OR SUICIDE ~ A TRUE STORY (but do I believe it? . . .)
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 10-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.
Dr. Mills continued, " Ordinarily, a person 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 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 unloaded. 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, if 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 10-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a
shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son had actually
murdered himself so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
--A true story from Associated Press, Report by Kurt Westervelt
ST
