Do People Frequently Die from Punches?

It's an honest question. Last week when we read and reported the story of James Paroline who was killed by a single punch, we were slightly stunned that the effects of a punch could kill a man. So much so that we assumed it was likely a very rare occurrence and a tragic case where the most imperfect circumstances lined up. However, tonight while browsing the local news we spotted the following headline: "Modified Guilty Plea in Punching Death in Monroe".

Apparently Mr. Paroline was not the only local man that met a tragic death at the fist of another. On February 26th Kenneth Wolfe, a motel manager in Monroe, was killed by the punch of an angry tenant. Yesterday Jesse Bullington, Wolfe's killer, entered a modified guilty plea of 2nd degree manslaughter in the case. Despite killing a man with his bare hands, the most time Bullington will spend in jail is four years.

Four years?! People, lots of people, get more time than that for non-violent drug offenses. Does no one else see an incongruence in the brevity of that prison stay in comparison to the severity and brutality of killing another person with your fist? We wonder if Brian Keith Brown will get a longer sentence because of the publicity surrounding his crime, or if Bullington decided to plea out rather than go to trial in the wake of the public outrage surrounding Paroline's death?

Whether there are far more deaths by punching than we ever realized, or attention is only being paid to Bullington's story because of the lingering outrage of Paroline's senseless death, we hope to never report another. We've just reported two too many.

Hopefully this guy is reconsidering his money making plans. "Punch Me..." by Seattlest Flickr Photog TheQ