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Man sentenced after shot just missed woman at home By Chris Bristol Dropping a bobby pin may have been the luckiest thing that ever happened to Dolores Simmerman. It was also lucky for target shooter Harry Stewart. In a Jackson County courtroom Monday, Stewart was sentenced to 18 months of probation as the person responsible last summer for firing a stray bullet that penetrated the bathroom of Simmerman�s rural trailer more than a quarter-mile away. Simmerman was fixing her hair in the bathroom at the time, and authorities believe she escaped serious injury only because she was bending over to pick up a bobby pin at the same moment the .45-caliber slug came calling. "It�s a total coincidence she wasn�t killed," prosecutor Debbie Minder marveled. "This incident could have been a lot worse." Simmerman agreed. "It probably would have hit me in the head," she said. "I�m glad I bent over." Authorities said the bullet pierced the exterior wall of the double-wide trailer, then passed clean through the medicine cabinet in the bathroom before coming to rest in the wall between the bathroom and the bedroom. After Simmerman�s son dug it out, sheriff�s deputies tested the bullet against two firearms � an H&K MP5 submachine gun and an H&K .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol � that had been fired by target shooters July 24 at a home 1,500 feet away from Simmerman�s place on North Applegate Road. Forensic experts eventually determined the pistol fired the bullet, leading to Stewart�s guilty plea Monday of reckless endangerment. Prosecutors dropped a charge of second-degree criminal mischief in exchange for the plea. Stewart, 61, complained in court that he had not seen Simmerman�s house through the brush. Minder said Stewart�s target-shooting companion knew the house was there, and evidence suggested Stewart fired recklessly in the air. She said Stewart had also been drinking. In addition to probation, Judge Ray White ordered Stewart to perform 24 hours of community service and forfeit the gun, which actually belonged to a friend. The defendant had no prior criminal record. White said the case reminded him of a 1973 homicide in which a 53-year-old Eagle Point woman was killed by a stray bullet while working in her garden. White was then a young prosecutor, and it was the first homicide he ever worked. The culprit (perhaps a hunter) was never identified. "Fortunately, this didn�t have tragic consequences," White said to Stewart, "but it certainly could have." Simmerman said she has no hard feelings, figuring that all�s well that ends well. Stewart should be punished for his carelessness. Even so, she said she personally doesn�t like guns and doesn�t like having them around. "I figure I might shoot myself," she joked. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA