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Hunter's error could lead to charges Victim's family holds no grudge after gunshot fired into bushes kills Medford man's longtime friend By MARK FREEMAN A Medford man may face a homicide charge after he killed his longtime hunting partner while deer hunting Sunday near Butte Falls in what police and family members call an accident triggered by negligence. Ryan Wilson, 40, told police he heard rustling in the brush and believed he had come upon some blacktail deer heading down a hillside off Fredenburg Road, authorities said. When Wilson fired a rifle shot at what sounded like deer, the bullet instead struck and killed Don Hauser, a 34-year-old Pepsi service man from White City who was clad in camouflage clothing. After interviewing Wilson on Monday morning, Jackson County Sheriff's Sgt. Dick Allen said that he recommends prosecutors charge Wilson with criminally negligent homicide, a Class C felony, because Wilson allegedly took an unjustifiable risk in firing a shot without identifying his target. "I think he was negligent in what he did," Allen said. "Based on his statement, he was shooting at sound." LaVerne Hauser said Monday that her son came from a family of safety-conscious hunters who stalked game by the credo that you never fire unless you know exactly what you are shooting at. But Hauser, of Sams Valley, said she considers her son's death an accident that need not be avenged in court. "The family wouldn't even think about pressing charges," Hauser said Monday. "(Wilson) has been a friend for years. There's a personal hell for him that's tremendous enough." Jackson County authorities don't need the victims' consent to pursue criminal charges, and they have a history of charging and convicting shooters in similar circumstances. A Jacksonville man who shot and killed a young bowhunter he mistook for a bear in 1992 was charged with manslaughter and pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, accepting a three-month jail term. Jackson County District Attorney Mark Huddleston said he will await a review of the police reports, likely next week, before determining if filing a charge of criminally negligent homicide against Wilson is appropriate in this case. In Oregon, someone commits criminally negligent homicide if he fails to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that results in someone's death. The risk must be of such a degree that failing to be aware of it constitutes a gross deviation from what a reasonable person would consider acceptable. "The issue any time there is a death that's not intentional is whether there's recklessness or criminal negligence," Huddleston said. "That's the issue we'll be looking at, and that's what the sheriff's department is looking at now." Hauser and Wilson were two of about 10 people deer hunting together Sunday. They were walking in a line through the woods making noise to spook the deer out of the heavy brush, said Ray Imus, a Central Point man who was along on the hunt. Allen said Wilson recalled hearing deer moving through the brush, then firing at some movement in the brush at about 9:30 a.m. Imus said he heard a single shot, and that Wilson shoots a .338-caliber rifle. "We heard a shot, some yelling and then screaming," Imus said. "Nothing but screaming." LaVerne Hauser said her son was shot once in his back above his hip. After the shooting, Wilson disappeared into the woods and hid, police said. "I think he was just distraught and fearful," Allen said. "He had just shot his buddy." Police searched the area for him until dark, after which Wilson hiked out then drove his truck home. Sheriff's deputies received an anonymous call early Monday that Wilson was at his Pepper Street residence in Medford. Deputies went there and interviewed Wilson, who wept heavily during the 30-minute interview. After deputies left, Wilson apparently complained of chest pains and was rushed by ambulance to Rogue Valley Medical Center, where he was undergoing evaluation Monday in the center's emergency room. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com |
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