Posted on 06/20/2009 3:37:33 PM PDT by JoeProBono
MONTICELLO – A Howard Beach man who was hunting in Swan Lake last November when he fired his high powered rifle and killed a baby inside a home, Friday pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter.
Edward Taibi, 45, had been hunting on property off Horseshoe Lake Road when he fired two shots from his rifle within 400 feet of a mobile home where 16-month-old Charley Skala of Woodbourne, and her grandmother were located.
When sentenced in October, he will receive two to eight years in state prison.
The guilty plea came in Sullivan County Court as District Attorney Stephen Lungen was preparing for a trial.
“This was not an accident; this was a recklessly caused death because in the location and manner in which Mr. Taibi fired his high-powered 300 magnum Winchester rifle, he was in such close proximity to the residence, which was in his view at the time of his shooting that he should have never fired any of the shots, let alone the first shot, especially the second shot, which was even closer.”
Lungen termed the resolution “fair.” But said nothing could make the family pleased.
He got off light.
If only his name was Stallworth.
Swan Lake, New York, is located just south of the Catskills.
This story gives me ice water in the pit of my stomach. How shall I put this delicately? The results of a 300 Win Mag hitting a baby would be the stuff of nightmares, really really bad nightmares.
I wonder how many shots he shoots for "practice" each year?
I'll say.
This story hits close to home (no pun really intended): I support hunting, but my family has had loads and loads of a-hole hunters come on to our land (12 wooded acres) year after year, tear down our "NO HUNTING" signs, and fire high-powered rifles around our house.
8 years for a guilty plea should have been the minimum sentence. No guilty plea, 20 years to life. There is NO excuse for this kind of shooting. NONE.
Snip
That afternoon, Taibi was hunting from a tree stand and fired his Browning .300 Winchester Magnum rifle, wounding a deer, cops said. He came down from the stand and fired again when he was about 400 feet from the home. That round went through the trailer, cops said. [end snip]
Just wanted to point out that my ‘better perspective’ comment had nothing at all to do with your comment which included the word ‘perspective’. I didn’t even see your post before I sent mine. Just a weird coincidence.
You may think your little comment is cute, but the fact is some dumb a** killed a baby through stupidity, thus making the rest of the hunters in this country look like careless blood thirsty fools. The best you can come up with is a remark about people living in trailers. I wonder do you assume what really caused the accident was the fact they lived in a trailer?
Shouldn’t the word “hunter” be in quotes. There got to be a term for morons like this.
The report says the home was ‘in view’ from his position. I wonder if he actually did see it and shot anyway. In any case, he obviously should have checked more carefully before firing.
“This was not an accident; this was a recklessly caused death because in the location and manner in which Mr. Taibi fired his high-powered 300 magnum Winchester rifle, he was in such close proximity to the residence, which was in his view at the time of his shooting that he should have never fired any of the shots, let alone the first shot, especially the second shot, which was even closer.”
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/June09/20/Taibi_plea-20Jun09.html
Looks like the second biggest bullet in the picture.
I don’t know about the jurisdiction where this incident happened, but in these parts (Illinois) you can’t shoot within 300 yards of a building.
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