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Mitchell Andrus
03-25-2009, 5:11 PM
This is a little long - but worth it.

True Suicide Forensics Case
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 Opusand 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." The fact 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.
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 of murdering 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 as 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)

Jason Beam
03-25-2009, 5:36 PM
I think not:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/opus.asp

Chris Padilla
03-25-2009, 5:46 PM
Awww, Jason, it was a GREAT story!! :)

Belinda Barfield
03-25-2009, 5:55 PM
I was headed down the road of some things are just meant to be. Guess this wasn't one of them.

Jason Beam
03-25-2009, 8:32 PM
I'm sorry!!

But the fantasy was soiled when I couldn't buy the "Routinely threatens his wife by waving an unloaded shotgun around" detail. Reality was no longer suspended for me.

My wife hates that I ruin her sci-fi stuff, too.

I'm sorry, everybody! :)

Sean Troy
03-25-2009, 9:16 PM
I think not:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/opus.asp

Not a good bet to rely on snopes. Not to say the story was true but snopes has been shown to choose ( Fabricate) what they want you to think is true and not. What do they gain from that? You decide.

Jason Beam
03-25-2009, 11:46 PM
Until I see proof that they are wrong, I'll keep relying on Snopes. Everyone has to form their own opinions, I guess. :)

Mitchell Andrus
03-26-2009, 7:52 AM
I think not:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/opus.asp

Yea, likely a fable created for law 101 class discussions. Great conversation starter in a room full of lawyers though...
.

Mark Patoka
03-26-2009, 8:59 AM
I'm like Jason. Snopes is the first place I go whenever I get emails with stories like this. They do make for a fascinating read but the falsehood flag pops up pretty quickly.

Ken Werner
03-26-2009, 9:04 AM
So who Snopes on Snopes? Good story, even if fabricated.

Gene Howe
03-26-2009, 10:27 AM
So who Snopes on Snopes? Good story, even if fabricated.

I run all the blond jokes I receive through Snopes. Most are true.;)

Ken Fitzgerald
03-26-2009, 10:36 AM
I run all the blond jokes I receive through Snopes. Most are true.;)


Especially the blonde men jokes!:eek::rolleyes::D

Belinda Barfield
03-26-2009, 10:52 AM
I run all the blond jokes I receive through Snopes. Most are true.;)

Oh, like, how many blondes does it take to change a light bulb? None, we just ask a man to do it. ;)

Gene Howe
03-26-2009, 11:13 AM
Oh, like, how many blondes does it take to change a light bulb? None, we just ask a man to do it. ;)

Yeah, true in LOML's case. But, she still lights my fire!

Chris Padilla
03-26-2009, 1:06 PM
Oh, like, how many blondes does it take to change a light bulb? None, we just ask a man to do it. ;)

Ask??!! :confused:

Belinda Barfield
03-26-2009, 1:20 PM
Ask??!! :confused:

Gracious me, Chris. I'm from the South. I wouldn't dream of tellin' a man what to do. I just sweetly point out that it sure would be easier to whip up a batch of chicken and dumplins' if that silly ol' lightbulb wasn't burnt out in the kitchen. :D

Jason Beam
03-26-2009, 1:39 PM
A southern gal's askin' is just a creative way of tellin, yanno! I ain't been around many blocks, but I been around that'n a time'r two!

Colin Giersberg
03-27-2009, 8:20 AM
Funny, my wife never asks me to do anything. However, she sure does know how to tell me what to do.:eek:

Regards, Colin

Chris Padilla
03-27-2009, 9:29 AM
Gracious me, Chris. I'm from the South. I wouldn't dream of tellin' a man what to do. I just sweetly point out that it sure would be easier to whip up a batch of chicken and dumplins' if that silly ol' lightbulb wasn't burnt out in the kitchen. :D

Ah, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach...gets me every time! :D

David Epperson
03-27-2009, 11:05 AM
Actually Snopes confirmed that this was a true story

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.
n that it was a tall tale on complex forensics presented by AAFS President Don Harper Mills in his opening remarks at the awards dinner during the annual [American Academy of Forensic Sciences] meeting in San Diego. The year is off a bit though. Snopes interview with the author of the story places it in 1987.

glenn bradley
03-27-2009, 3:05 PM
A great demonstration of the potential of our legal system to draw out any occurrence until the lawyer's kids finish college. (my apologies to all you lawyers; not for the comment, for the fact that you are lawyers . . . .OK I was kidding on that one too, somebody has to figure out all the screwy laws that stay on the books.)

Brent Leonard
03-27-2009, 6:34 PM
Not a good bet to rely on snopes. Not to say the story was true but snopes has been shown to choose ( Fabricate) what they want you to think is true and not. What do they gain from that? You decide.


LOL....

The accusations directed at Snopes (in)accuracy come from the fact that they sell advertisments on their site.
Politicos like to argue snopes is a left wing machine.

I've yet to see any legitimate investigative report of Snopes being propagandist.
Snopes has never claimed to be FINAL authority on any topic, although, they are relatively accurate when they make a deffinitive call of true or false.

Clara Koss
03-27-2009, 6:41 PM
true or not it was a great murder mystery!!!! i am a murder mystery fan and can't get enough... thanks for sharing the story... MORE MORE !!!!!:eek: