For those who may have not read this before.
Do you like to read a good murder mystery? Not even Law and Order would attempt 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 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 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.
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 not
loaded. 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, assuming 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, Ronald Opus, had actually murdered himself. So the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.
A true story from Associated Press.
Don Harper Mills did indeed present this story at a meeting but it was 1987 and he made the whole thing up using it to illustrate a point. It was put on the internet in1994 and represented as true.
luvmypets wrote:
Karma is a b****!!
Dodie
Not according to SNOPES, and several other sources. The story was created by Don Harper Mills, as an introduction at an American Academy of Forensic Sciences awards dinner.
I remember a take-off of the story as part of an episode of "Homicide: Life on The Streets". It had Steve Allen and Audrey Meadows as the couple.
Unbelievable for good reasons.
Another one of those myths! There were a whole string of tv show take-offs featuring the fictional Ronald and his death.
Mills said that he made it up as an illustrative anecdote "to show how different legal consequences can follow each twist in a homicide inquiry.
Great story. maybe not CSI material maybe something for Midsomer murders.
How does Colonel Mustard fit into all of this?
Canisdirus wrote:
How does Colonel Mustard fit into all of this?
In the conservatory with the candlestick.....
starlifter wrote:
Great story. maybe not CSI material maybe something for Midsomer murders.
Funny, but sounds about right.
They do harbor twists there.
Muddyvalley wrote:
Unbelievable for good reasons.
Another one of those myths! There were a whole string of tv show take-offs featuring the fictional Ronald and his death.
Mills said that he made it up as an illustrative anecdote "to show how different legal consequences can follow each twist in a homicide inquiry.
In Georgia it seems everyone involved would be guilty of murder.
Kraken wrote:
When one intends to kill subject ‘A' but kills subject 'B' in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject 'B.'
They sould be guilty of the attempted murder of subject 'A'.
pendennis wrote:
I remember a take-off of the story as part of an episode of "Homicide: Life on The Streets". It had Steve Allen and Audrey Meadows as the couple.
We used to watch "Homicide . . ." with Andre Braugher all the time but I don't remember this episode. About the only episode I remember is the one where a subway passenger was pushed off the platform and was wedged between the subway car and the platform and their attempt to remove him.
How come their aren't reruns of "Homicide . . ." like there are of most other old TV shows?
aphelps wrote:
In Georgia it seems everyone involved would be guilty of murder.
Unless they are repooblicans....
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