[Mb-hair] Go figure ...

[Wm-A Gonzalez]

This is acted out (as well as other similar "coincidences") in the opening 
sequence of the film "Magnolia".

-Bil Gonzalez

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerald Gerald" <dekuyper at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Gerald Cooper" <dekuyper at sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 1:45 PM
Subject: [Mb-hair] Go figure ...


> BIZZARE STORY!!
>
> Strange...this is one you gotta read bizzare twist of
> fate Not even "Law and Order" would attempt to capture
> this mess...This is an unbelievable twist of fate!!!
>
> 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 Opus and 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, "Someone 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." 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. In 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 not loaded.
>
> The old man said it was a long-standing habit to
> threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no
> intention to murder her. Therefore the killing of Mr.
> Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming 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 was
> 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 Mark C. Anderson Director, Materials
> Handling Room 101A, Park Avenue Warehouse Bowling
> Green State University Bowling Green, Ohio.
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