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Hunter receives 6-year sentence for death of hunti
Josey1
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Hunter receives 6-year sentence
By ANITA BURKE
for the Mail Tribune
A Medford hunter convicted of second-degree manslaughter was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for the shooting death of a hunting partner last November.
Jackson County Circuit Judge Patricia Crain gave Ryan Leon Wilson, 41, the minimum sentence for second-degree manslaughter set out in Measure 11 sentencing guidelines.
He also must spend three years under post-prison supervision and must pay $3,500 in criminal victim's compensation to help cover funeral expenses of the man he killed, Donald Hauser, 34, of White City.
Addressing "the community at large," Crain said, "Guns are instruments of killing. It's their purpose. It's their design. People who use guns regularly either stay cautious or they become complacent.
"You became complacent and you were dangerous," she admonished Wilson.
Wilson and seven friends were hunting for blacktail deer near Butte Falls Nov. 4 when Wilson thought he heard and glimpsed a deer headed up a steep, forested hillside behind him and to his right.
He called out to other hunters to determine their positions, and after two hunters shouted back, he fired his .338-caliber rifle without looking through the scope. Wilson testified during his trial last week that then he heard fellow hunter Hauser yell, "You killed me."
Wilson shouted for help, then dropped his rifle and fled into the woods. He was arrested at his home in Medford the next day and voluntarily spent time in a psychiatric ward before being indicted on manslaughter charges. A jury convicted him Aug. 28 at the conclusion of a two-day trial.
"This can happen to anyone who becomes complacent," Crain warned.
At the sentencing, Wilson apologized to Hauser's family and noted that the pain of what had happened would be with him every day of his life. Wilson had been friends with Hauser's brother, Carl, since high school.
Don Hauser is survived by his wife, Cathy, who attended the sentencing but didn't make a statement, and two sons, ages 10 and 14.
Wilson and his family filed from the courtroom quietly and declined to comment. Wilson will begin serving his sentence Sept. 23.
His defense attorney, Bob Abel, requested two weeks' time before the sentence starts to enable Wilson to make provisions for his wife, who is disabled.
Anita Burke is a free-lance writer living in Talent. E-mail her at sburke541@charter.net
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2002/0906/local/stories/08local.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By ANITA BURKE
for the Mail Tribune
A Medford hunter convicted of second-degree manslaughter was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for the shooting death of a hunting partner last November.
Jackson County Circuit Judge Patricia Crain gave Ryan Leon Wilson, 41, the minimum sentence for second-degree manslaughter set out in Measure 11 sentencing guidelines.
He also must spend three years under post-prison supervision and must pay $3,500 in criminal victim's compensation to help cover funeral expenses of the man he killed, Donald Hauser, 34, of White City.
Addressing "the community at large," Crain said, "Guns are instruments of killing. It's their purpose. It's their design. People who use guns regularly either stay cautious or they become complacent.
"You became complacent and you were dangerous," she admonished Wilson.
Wilson and seven friends were hunting for blacktail deer near Butte Falls Nov. 4 when Wilson thought he heard and glimpsed a deer headed up a steep, forested hillside behind him and to his right.
He called out to other hunters to determine their positions, and after two hunters shouted back, he fired his .338-caliber rifle without looking through the scope. Wilson testified during his trial last week that then he heard fellow hunter Hauser yell, "You killed me."
Wilson shouted for help, then dropped his rifle and fled into the woods. He was arrested at his home in Medford the next day and voluntarily spent time in a psychiatric ward before being indicted on manslaughter charges. A jury convicted him Aug. 28 at the conclusion of a two-day trial.
"This can happen to anyone who becomes complacent," Crain warned.
At the sentencing, Wilson apologized to Hauser's family and noted that the pain of what had happened would be with him every day of his life. Wilson had been friends with Hauser's brother, Carl, since high school.
Don Hauser is survived by his wife, Cathy, who attended the sentencing but didn't make a statement, and two sons, ages 10 and 14.
Wilson and his family filed from the courtroom quietly and declined to comment. Wilson will begin serving his sentence Sept. 23.
His defense attorney, Bob Abel, requested two weeks' time before the sentence starts to enable Wilson to make provisions for his wife, who is disabled.
Anita Burke is a free-lance writer living in Talent. E-mail her at sburke541@charter.net
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2002/0906/local/stories/08local.htm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878