Teen Hunter to Be Charged with Manslaughter

The 14-year-old (unsupervised-by-adults) hunter who shot and killed a local hiker after mistaking her for a bear will be charged with first degree manslaughter. The Skagit County Prosecutor's office points out that the boy broke no laws by hunting in the popular hiking area or for hunting without adult supervision, since there is no minimum age limit for hunting in Washington State...which still boggles our mind. Hopefully, the manslaughter charge will bring about conversation and change in regards to children hunting bears and gun control, and some part of this tragic fiasco could be redeemed for the positive.

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By Abbey in News on August 12, 2008 12:30 PM

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bonitajustice

I don't know about "a quick and dirty search of the Internets", but I took a quick look at the law in Washington defining Man 1 (http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/def....

Man 1 includes recklessly causing the death of another. Recklessness is generally defined as acting with willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property... like firing a gun in a popular hiking area.

It sounds like the right charge.

ruffhauser

I think it's gross to use the death of someone to advance a political agenda. You should be ashamed of yourself.

MvB

@zagreusmd: I would *so* line up to see "Highlander 2: The Mistakening"!

herbisara

I still don't understand how in the f*ck it's acceptable to hunt in a popular hiking area. Shouldn't the areas for these activities be kept far, far away from one another?

zagreusmd

Interesting that the charge is manslaughter in the first degree. According to a quick and dirty search of the Internets, manslaughter is killing without malice (which would certainly appear to be the case here), and manslaughter in the first degree is the aforementioned killing in the process of committing an unlawful act. If the act were lawful, then it would be manslaughter in the second degree.

So the question: what was the unlawful act, given that the kid was licensed to hunt bear? I wonder if there's some suspicion that he was taking potshots at the woman for kicks, but didn't mean to actually hit her. That would explain how he mistook a woman in a blue poncho for a bear: he didn't.

zagreusmd

"Mistakening?" Good to see your crack editorial staff is on the job!

Though "Highlander 2: The Mistakening" would have been a much better title.