This makes me very angry

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I know this kid and his family. It is sad but I must say his upbringing did not allow him experience in these areas (guns). From the description of events and stuff I have pieced together it would seem he was rather cavalier. Whatever happened to the safety? How about clearing the weapon outside or not having anyone in front of the direction of your gun? The safety trainer ought to be checked out. He can't be held liable but yet he should see what his "students" did.

To have this hanging over ones head for the rest of their lives is tragic beyond words. I can't help but think that if he'd been around guns as a kid, foolishness would have been quickly taken care of and mistakes would have been minimized.

I haven't found their blog yet. Anybody have a lead on that?
 
The ironic thing about this is that the (apparently ample) evidence of negligent handling is a double-edged sword:

1. It will HELP the defendant avoid a verdict of murder (should he be charged with that), because it bolsters his "it wasn't intentional; I'm just a dumbbutt" defense.

2. It will HURT the defendant in trying to avoid a manslaughter conviction because well, it bolsters the prosecution's "he's a dumbbutt" offense.

Sad, regardless.

I can't help but think that if he'd been around guns as a kid, foolishness would have been quickly taken care of and mistakes would have been minimized.
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Absolutely. And yet, the Brady Bunch and their ilk fight hard to keep Eddie Eagle gun safety lesson programs out of schools - they want more kids and adults dead to give them ammo for their proposed bans.
 
Their manslaughter theory depends on his committing an assault. As his defense counsel my preliminary theory of his defense would be that the alleged "assault" was consensual and hence not criminal. No assault, no manslaughter.
 
I don't think so. In most states, manslaughter is premised upon GROSS NEGLIGENCE. You can be grossly negligent even with someone's consent to the action.
 
I can't even imagine cleaning a shotgun with a shell in the chamber.

I mean, I push and pull the rod back and forth between the empty chamber and the muzzle.

This I just cannot comprehend someone doing. But then I am not him and I was not there. I cannot judge. I can only pray, and since she was apparently a Christian, she is in a lot better place now than this place! She is home now.

I just thought of something. Perhaps it was a pump gun and the chamber was empty but the magazine tube was not. Guy finished cleaning the gun, pumps the action and pulls the trigger. However, even then, I never pump the action and pull the trigger unless I have double-checked that there is no shell in there and even then, I am extremely careful what I am aiming at when I pull the trigger. I don't want to blow out half the plumbing and/or electric in my house!
 
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http://journalstar.com/news/local/do...a862528290.txt


Prosecutors to file charges in wife's shooting death

By LORI PILGER / Lincoln Journal Star
Wednesday, Feb 04, 2009 - 06:38:42 pm CST
Joshua Beasley pointed a shotgun at his new wife, Alaina, prosecutors say.

She pointed back, holding her hand in the shape of a gun, said Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey.

And when he pulled the trigger, thinking it was empty, the gun fired and hit Alaina.

Alaina Beasley’s funeral will be at 2 p.m. today at Emmanuel Fellowship Church, 8345 Crown Point Ave., Omaha.
She died early Sunday.

“He didn’t intend to kill her,” Lacey said Wednesday, after giving details of the game that led to the 20-year-old bride’s death.

Regardless, Lacey said, Josh Beasley was committing an unlawful act, an assault, by pointing the gun at her. For that, Lacey’s office will charge him with manslaughter.
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More info.

Looks bad to me. I can't imagine not pressing charges.

If anyone had acted as grossly inapropriate with a car, charges would be filed.

It's sad, but WTH.
 
“He didn’t intend to kill her,” Lacey said Wednesday, after giving details of the game that led to the 20-year-old bride’s death.
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It'd be interesting to see just what kind of "game" they were playing with a LOADED 12 GAUGE inside a building.
 
Her last words were, "I love you."

If someone shot me in the chest my last words wouldn't be allowed to be printed.
 
She truly loved him and probably knew she was going fast and probably knew the whole thing was an accident.

This is so sad, I cannot keep my mind off of it.

I hope they are good to the husband. He will remember this every day for the rest of his life. This was his bride.
doc498622a51e51a171995041.jpg
 
He will probably feel better in the long run by paying his "penance" by doing some time for manslaughter - it will clear his head and allow him to carry on a more fruitful life after the time is served, as opposed to the albatross of guilt if no charges were faced. If the evidence is utterly no intent, then it would seem a sentence of 6 months to 3 years would be appropriate for involuntary manslaughter (or assault with deadly weapon).
 
“We are a Christian couple striving to live a life that glorifies our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” they wrote.
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God will use this for HIS Glory. Good will come out of this terrible tragedy. We cannot see it now, just as we cannot see now like we are looking through a glass. When we see HIM and meet HIM, we shall know as we are known.

We are locked in this earthly body. We don't see why there are terrible things going on around us. Some day we shall see it all, just as God sees it all -- from the beginning to the end.

They asked that people pray for the couple's families. That is the least we can do.
 
Their manslaughter theory depends on his committing an assault. As his defense counsel my preliminary theory of his defense would be that the alleged "assault" was consensual and hence not criminal. No assault, no manslaughter.
__________________
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Are you still claiming to be a CD lawyer?

Assault? Oh jeez..

Recklessness is there. And having had just passed a safety class a week before, he had the requisite knowledge necessary.



As sad as the story is, he should be charged. Every crime has a sad story behind it, that doesn't change what happened.

Improper gun handling (not following the rules) results in bad things happening. There are currently TWO cases of this on the THR boards right now. This story which involves a failure to follow all of the rules. And then the guy who shot through a door and killed a cop, not knowing what his target is.



If someone shot me in the chest my last words wouldn't be allowed to be printed.
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Hahahahaha....that's funny.
 
Ummmmm, if you get shot in the chest with a 12 gauge at close range.....

I can't imagine her lungs would be able to force out any words.

I just think it is tragic that so many kids don't have anyone to teach them about guns.

They were treating the guns as toys.

Sad.
 
Look at the bright side - at least this idiot won't be reproducing in the very near future.

What, too harsh? She's dead - not him. I'm supposed to feel sorry for someone who aimed a deadly weapon at his wife and pulled the trigger? Really? After 5 years of marriage, I don't even like having a chef's knife in my hand if my wife is in the kitchen. Granted, she's probably a little clumsier than most, but you get my point.

This wasn't a case of some drunk plowing into them as they went to the church social. There was no third party. He is not a victim of circumstance. He killed her.

"But he'll live with this horrible thing his whole life!", they say.

That's kind of the point, though, isn't it? He'll live with it - "his whole life". He gets to have a whole life - she doesn't. I have zero sympathy for him.

Don't be mistaken - this is a tragedy; for her, her family, and gun owners everywhere. This case is an excellent argument for tighter gun control, starting with age restrictions.

Then again, maybe this is god's way of telling us something. Maybe our gun laws are a little too loose...
 
^ i agree

it's sad that an innocent person died and not the moron, if it was the guy who pointed the gun and pulled the trigger who died, i'd pass it off as natural selection
 
Really, really sad story.

Pure and simple case of violating just about every tennant of safe firearms handling. You simply cannot point a gun at anything you don't intend to destroy. Period.

My emotions range from angry to sypathetic to puzzled. Mostly angry though.
 
It is sad, but let us not be too quick to assume she was innocent. If you saw the pictures on the blog before they were taken down, she was right in there with the rest, pointing guns and laughing and smiling. It wasn't just him, it was both of them, playing games with guns. Guns are not games and toys, but they learned that too late.
 
Tragic. I feel almost as sorry for the shooter as I do for his wife.

There was a case here in Arizona some years ago just like this where a young guy shot and killed his kid cousin with a shotgun he was playing around with that he thought was unloaded.

These people probably grew up in homes with no guns and never learned to handle them safely.

We have mandatory driver's ed classes in the schools in most states. If we had mandatory gun ed classes, it could prevent a lot of these tragedies from happening.
 
As I talk with friends of the family more is said about the shooter than the victim. I find that tragic. The family are isolationistic in their religious activities. The kids, like most homeschooled types, are smart but simple minded. The wife was probably good for the guy as she broadened his horizons. Yet at the same time the foolishness of their activity is unfortunate.

I remember as a TEENAGER doing some really dumb things that could have been just as deadly as the stuff these two did.

The whole mess is tragic beyond words.
 
Langstrom,

Put this in your favorites and please do keep us posted on this young lad.

My prayers go to him and his family (and her family) every time I think of this.

I am interested in how this will all play out in the court system.
 
TRGRHPY: "Are you still claiming to be a CD lawyer? Assault? Oh jeez..
Recklessness is there. And having had just passed a safety class a week before, he had the requisite knowledge necessary."
"

All irrelevant if she consented, counsellor.
 
What, too harsh? She's dead - not him.
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And he's right likely aware of that fact. No one's exonerating him or saying he should go free. The reason this weighs heavy on my mind has less to do with how I feel about him and more about the frustration of how incredibly preventable an incident like this should be.
 
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