That's not what you said in your first post; you said Cheney deliberately pointed his shotgun at someone and fired. There's a BIG difference!
What's the difference? Unless the shotgun fired itself, Cheney took aim at (I'm assuming) a quail and fired while his hunting partner was in the line of fire. There's nothing to excuse here, and, unless he's taking the blame for someone else, the evidence is pretty clear cut.