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Hunting death goes to grand jury for review By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune A 40-year-old Medford man may face a manslaughter charge for accidentally shooting a boyhood friend to death during a Nov. 4 hunting accident that authorities say was triggered by recklessness. A Jackson County grand jury soon will be asked to indict Ryan Wilson on a charge of second-degree manslaughter for killing Donald Hauser while they were deer hunting near Butte Falls. Wilson told police he heard rustling noises in some brush but did not actually see his target, and that he fired because he thought the noises were a black-tailed deer. The bullet, however, struck and killed Hauser, a 34-year-old Pepsi service man who was clad in camouflage clothing. A second-degree manslaughter charge would allege that Wilson was reckless in firing the fatal shot. "We think second-degree manslaughter is the appropriate charge, given the facts of the case," District Attorney Mark Huddleston said. If convicted, Wilson would face a mandatory 75 months in prison under Measure 11 sentencing guidelines. Carl Hauser, the victim's father, said he supports whatever direction prosecutors wish to take the case. "He's been a friend of the family for a long time," Carl Hauser said of Wilson. "There's no excuse for him shooting Donald, but accidents do happen." Family members previously have said that they did not believe Wilson should face any criminal charges. Ryan Wilson would not comment. His wife, Lori, however, expressed discontent that prosecutors are pushing for turning a terrible accident into a homicide case. "Thanksgiving was hard enough," Lori Wilson said. "But that (an indictment) would be the lowest." Huddleston said he intends to take the case to the seven-member grand jury within the next two or three weeks, depending upon when the case can be scheduled. Wilson will not be present and there are no plans to allow him to tell the grand jury his story, Huddleston said. But Huddleston said prosecutors likely will provide grand jurors with the range of potential homicide charges in this case, including a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. A criminally negligent homicide charge would allege that Wilson fired the fatal shot while failing to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk of shooting at a target he first did not identify. A second-degree manslaughter charge would allege that Wilson consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that he might be shooting at something other than a deer. The legal distinction carries more than just semantics. While a second-degree manslaughter conviction carries a required prison term of more than six years, someone convicted of criminally negligent homicide could face little or no time behind bars. A Jacksonville man who shot and killed a young bowhunter he mistook for a bear in 1992 was charged with second-degree manslaughter. The man later pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, accepting a three-month jail term as part of an agreement. Huddleston did not say whether he would seek a similar agreement in this case. The case will be prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Matt McCauley, and it will be McCauley's first homicide case. Donald Hauser and Ryan Wilson were two of about 10 people hunting together in the Fredenburg Road area. Jackson County sheriff's deputies said Wilson recalled hearing deer moving through the brush. After first yelling to signal his hunting partners, Wilson fired his .338-caliber rifle at some movement in the brush, then realized instantly that he had shot Hauser. After the shooting, an apparently distraught Wilson disappeared into the woods and hid, police said. He hiked out later that night and went home, where he was interviewed by police the following morning. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.