Murder, suicide or fiction

The other day I was in court awaiting my turn to argue a mundane motion. We were delayed because the case ahead of us, a murder trial, had not yet been concluded. After the case was submitted to the jury, the judge announced he would take a five-minute break and then return to hear our motion. During the break period, the bailiff remarked that the case just concluded was perhaps the strangest murder trial ever. My opponent, sitting next to me, disagreed, and told the story of the trial for the alleged murder of a man named Opus. When he was done, I was left with one single question bouncing around my brain: Was the story I had just heard one of murder, suicide or fiction? The story he had told, went as follows: David Opus was a man with a temper, who frequently threatened his wife. At some point, he began picking up his shotgun, always unloaded, and pointing it at her, when he was angry. He would berate her, accuse her, threaten her, and then pull the trigger, only to have the unloaded gun merely click. No one knew why his wife didn't simply leave him, but perhaps it was because of their son, Jimmy. Although Jimmy did not inherit his father's loud and boisterous tantrums, he unfortunately did absorb a healthy dose of disrespect for his mother. As he aged he disobeyed her at will, threatened her in his own, quieter manner, and thought very little of her. One day, when Jimmy was 16, his mother called him into the kitchen and informed him that she knew he had stolen and pawned the earrings her own mother had given her, and that she had reached her limit. She had sold his favorite baseball glove and hockey skates, had closed his bank account, and would no longer give him any money, except for purchases she approved in advance. He was also grounded for the next five weekends. Jimmy was furious, and decided his mother could not treat him this way, and snapped. Knowing his father would inevitably threaten his mother again, he secretly loaded his father's always unloaded shotgun and waited for nature to take its course. Over the next few days, as Jimmy endured his grounding and lack of money, he fell into a deep depression. He began to regret his act of loading the shotgun, but could not bring himself to undue his act. He became more and more depressed. When, on the fifth day, Jimmy heard his father, obviously drunk, begin to yell at his mother, he could not take the anxiety and conflict, and went to the roof of their apartment building to get some air and to try and think. Once on the roof, however, he became more and more despondent and, eventually, overcome by depression and lacking a clear head, decided he could not take living his life any more, and decided to end it all by jumping off the roof. In making this decision, however, Jimmy forgot about the building construction that was underway, and the safety net that had been strung along all sides of the building about two stories up from the ground. Not realizing the net would save him and doom his plan, Jimmy took one last, deep breath, and jumped, intending to end it all. Meanwhile, the fight between David Opus and his wife had escalated at its normal pace, and David had picked up his shotgun and once again pointed it at his wife. He was as surprised as anyone when he pulled the trigger and heard the report of the gunshot, rather than the mere click of the empty gun. Luckily for him and his wife, however, he had not gripped the gun tightly and the shot caused it to sway, sending the bullet wide of his wife, and shattering the window behind her. Unluckily for young Jimmy, however, his leap from the building caused him to be just outside that window on his downward plunge as the shot rang through, and he was hit by bullets and shattered glass while in mid-fall. Although the construction net broke his fall, he died from the wounds suffered. David Opus was tried for murder. His defense lawyer claimed he did not know the gun was loaded and he had no intent to kill anyone and most assuredly not his son falling outside the window, another unknown circumstance. Further, he argued, since Jimmy himself had loaded the gun, intending to turn it into a murder weapon, he was the person guilty of murder, even if the gun killed someone other than the person intended, and even if the accidental victim was himself. The judge came back out and took the bench before I learned the outcome of the supposed trial. As I said, however, I see three possible outcomes. David Opus was guilty of murder, Jimmy Opus was guilty of accidental suicide, or the entire thing is so far-fetched that it never really happened. What's your vote? Under Analysis is a nationally syndicated column of the Levison Group. Charles Kramer is a principal of the St. Louis, Missouri law firm Riezman Berger PC. Comments or criticisms about this column may be sent to the Levison Group c/o this newspaper or to the Levison Group at comments@levisongroup.com. © 2015 Under Analysis L.L.C. Published: Fri, Jul 24, 2015