pumpkin
02-01-2006, 09:21 AM
Subject: Fw: Strange Twist of Events
Do you like to read a good murder mystery? Not even Law and Order*wouldattempt to capture this mess. This is an unbelievable twist of fate!!!!*
At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS President*Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications ofa bizarre death.*
*Here is the story:*
On March 23, 1994....... the medical examiner viewed the body of RonaldOpus, and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opushad jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commitsuicide.* He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he*fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blastpassing through a window, which killed him instantly. Neither the shooternor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just belowthe eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would
nothave been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.*
"Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "Someone who sets out to commit suicideand ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what heintended, is still defined as committing suicide." That Mr. Opus was shoton 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 hada homicide on his hands.*
The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupiedby 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" butkills 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 bothadamant, and both said that they thought the shotgun was not loaded. Theold man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with theunloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killingof Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming the gun had beenaccidentally loaded.*
The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple'sson loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financialsupport and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use theshotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his
fatherwould 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 ofRonald Opus.*
Now comes the exquisite twist... Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent overthe failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him tojump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by ashotgun blast passing through the ninth story window.* The son, RonaldOpus, had actually murdered himself. So the medical examiner closed thecase as a suicide.*
A true story from Associated Press,
(Reported by Kurt Westervelt)
*
Subject: Fw: Strange Twist of Events
Do you like to read a good murder mystery? Not even Law and Order*wouldattempt to capture this mess. This is an unbelievable twist of fate!!!!*
At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS President*Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications ofa bizarre death.*
*Here is the story:*
On March 23, 1994....... the medical examiner viewed the body of RonaldOpus, and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opushad jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commitsuicide.* He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he*fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blastpassing through a window, which killed him instantly. Neither the shooternor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just belowthe eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would
nothave been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.*
"Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "Someone who sets out to commit suicideand ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what heintended, is still defined as committing suicide." That Mr. Opus was shoton 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 hada homicide on his hands.*
The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupiedby 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" butkills 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 bothadamant, and both said that they thought the shotgun was not loaded. Theold man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with theunloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killingof Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming the gun had beenaccidentally loaded.*
The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple'sson loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financialsupport and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use theshotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his
fatherwould 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 ofRonald Opus.*
Now comes the exquisite twist... Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent overthe failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him tojump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by ashotgun blast passing through the ninth story window.* The son, RonaldOpus, had actually murdered himself. So the medical examiner closed thecase as a suicide.*
A true story from Associated Press,
(Reported by Kurt Westervelt)
*
Do you like to read a good murder mystery? Not even Law and Order*wouldattempt to capture this mess. This is an unbelievable twist of fate!!!!*
At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS President*Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications ofa bizarre death.*
*Here is the story:*
On March 23, 1994....... the medical examiner viewed the body of RonaldOpus, and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opushad jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commitsuicide.* He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he*fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blastpassing through a window, which killed him instantly. Neither the shooternor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just belowthe eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would
nothave been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.*
"Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "Someone who sets out to commit suicideand ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what heintended, is still defined as committing suicide." That Mr. Opus was shoton 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 hada homicide on his hands.*
The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupiedby 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" butkills 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 bothadamant, and both said that they thought the shotgun was not loaded. Theold man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with theunloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killingof Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming the gun had beenaccidentally loaded.*
The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple'sson loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financialsupport and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use theshotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his
fatherwould 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 ofRonald Opus.*
Now comes the exquisite twist... Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent overthe failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him tojump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by ashotgun blast passing through the ninth story window.* The son, RonaldOpus, had actually murdered himself. So the medical examiner closed thecase as a suicide.*
A true story from Associated Press,
(Reported by Kurt Westervelt)
*
Subject: Fw: Strange Twist of Events
Do you like to read a good murder mystery? Not even Law and Order*wouldattempt to capture this mess. This is an unbelievable twist of fate!!!!*
At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS President*Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications ofa bizarre death.*
*Here is the story:*
On March 23, 1994....... the medical examiner viewed the body of RonaldOpus, and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opushad jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commitsuicide.* He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he*fell past the ninth floor, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blastpassing through a window, which killed him instantly. Neither the shooternor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just belowthe eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would
nothave been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned.*
"Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "Someone who sets out to commit suicideand ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what heintended, is still defined as committing suicide." That Mr. Opus was shoton 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 hada homicide on his hands.*
The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupiedby 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" butkills 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 bothadamant, and both said that they thought the shotgun was not loaded. Theold man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with theunloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killingof Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming the gun had beenaccidentally loaded.*
The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple'sson loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financialsupport and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use theshotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his
fatherwould 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 ofRonald Opus.*
Now comes the exquisite twist... Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent overthe failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him tojump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by ashotgun blast passing through the ninth story window.* The son, RonaldOpus, had actually murdered himself. So the medical examiner closed thecase as a suicide.*
A true story from Associated Press,
(Reported by Kurt Westervelt)
*