>>
>>Here is the Case:
>>>>>
>>>>>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 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.
>>>>>
>>>>>"Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "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 certain 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.
>>>>>
>>>>>In 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 ten-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, Reported by Kurt Westervelt
>>>>>
>>>>>
>
>
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