s of testimony, Mary Beth Harshbarger, a Pennsylvania women was found not guilty of criminal negligence and murder after shooting her husband Mark in the abdomen 4 years ago which eventually killed him in Newfoundland. According to Mary Harshbarger's lawyer, this incident was just a terrible accident due to a horrific constellation and unfortunate facts. Moreover, the juries from Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador after thorough investigation stated that the crown wasn't able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mary Harshbarger breached the standard of care expectated of someone in her situation.
The incident took place on September 2006,when Mark and MaryHarshbarger was on a hunting trip near Buchans Junction, Newfoundland. Mark Harshbarger was shot by his own wife, Mary, in the abdomen during the hunting trip and was eventually killed. According to Mary Harshbarger, she saw "a big black thing" emerge from bushes and shot a "big black thing" immediately thinking that it was a bear without fully identifying it since her sight wasn't very clear due to the dusky weather. Moreover, two hunting guides also acted as re-enactament witness and testified that what they saw through Mary Harshbarger's rifle scope could have been mistaken for a black bear.
The crown lawyer O'Reilly told to the court that Mary Harshbarger, a seasoned hunter shouldn't have fired at a target that she could not identify in the fading light in her closing argument. Moreover O'Reilly also said that Mary Harshbarger knew it was possible that her husband would be emerging from woods soon. Anyhow, because the crown wasn't able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mary Harshbarger breached the standard of care expectated of someone in her situation, she was found not guilty of criminal negligence and murder.
In my opinion , it was a right decision by the Supreme Court of Canada to not charge Mary Harshbarger for a murder. I believe that if I was in Mary Harshbarger's situation, it would be hard to identify if a "big black thing" emerging from a bush is a bear or a person especially on a dusky days in the hunting forest field with bushes and trees. Moreover, as proven by two hunting guides, it is possible that what Mary Harshbarger saw through her scope could have mistaken as a bear especially because she was in the middle of dusky hunting field filled with bushes and trees. Therefore because there are legitimate reasons to believe that the shooting was an accident, it was right choice to not charge her for a murder of her husband.
However, I still believe that she should've been charged with some degree of vi
olence or criminal negligence and took some kind of responsibility towards death of her husband. Although it is very convincing that the shooting was an accident and unintentional towards her husband with various evidences, it does not change the fact that she "killed" her husband. As stated by the crown lawyer O'Reilly, this incident could've been prevented. Mary Harshbarger, a seasoned hunter shouldn't have took the shot before fully identifying whether the target is a bear or a person. Secondly, the fact that Mary Harshbarger knew that it was possible for her husband to emerge from the woods soon wearing black clothes proves that she should've been well aware of the chances of the "big black thing" being her husband. Therefore, although it seems that the shooting of her husband was an unintentional accident, it still was caused by her negligence and carelessness, therefore I believe that she is partly responsible for this tragic incident. In conclusion, although being charged for "murder" is unjustifiable, she should still be charged with some degree of violence or criminal negligence for her actions and responsibility towards this incident.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20101001/harshbarger-verdict-101001/
1 comment:
I agree that the wife of the victim is not guilty of shooting her husband while hunting. She was merely acting on her own instincts while she was in the forest. It was the shroud of darkness that blinded her wife and mistook her husband as a "big black thing", therefore persuading her brain to shoot it. This is a terrible event to have befallen Mrs. Beth and I guess it teaches all of us to think wisely to the location and times of the day to go hunting.
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