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Thread ID: 120286	2011-09-01 23:12:00	An Internet/Email Feel-Good' story that for once is actually true.	Billy T (70)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1228245	2011-09-01 23:12:00	. . . I received this from a friend who is one of my regular joke suppliers and along with the jokes, he occasionally sends stories such as this one. He is a really nice guy and seems to have some implicit faith that they are all true. I usually reply with a link to the Snopes page that um.... clarifies the issue. Rather than supply the story, here (www.snopes.com) is the Snopes page authenticating the events as fundamentally true. It is slightly different to the version I received, but identical in all key aspects. Not to disappoint the more cynical of readers, below is another rather unusual tale (from the same source) that may help feed your Friday beast. Could happen, but didn't. Cheers Billy 8-{) A bizarre tale............. At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, (AAFS) President Dr. Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications of a bizarre death. Here is the story: On March 23, 1994....... the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus, and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opus had jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide. He left a note to that effect, indicating his deep despondency. As he fell past the ninth floor, his life was terminated abruptly by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which killed him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned. The room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorously and he was threatening her with a shotgun! The man was so upset that he pulled the trigger, but he completely missed his wife, and the pellets went through the window, striking Mr. Opus. When one intends to kill subject 'A' but kills subject 'B' in the attempt, one is then guilty of the murder of subject 'B.' When confronted with the murder charge, the old man and his wife were both adamant that they thought the shotgun was not loaded. The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun and he had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, assuming the gun had been accidentally loaded. The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother. Since the loader of the gun was aware of this, he was guilty of the murder even though he didn't actually pull the trigger. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus. Now comes the exquisite twist. Further investigation revealed that the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder and this led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son, Ronald Opus, had in fact murdered himself, and the Medical Examiner closed the case as a suicide. It's just another urban myth, but why let that spoil a good story!	Billy T (70)
1228246	2011-09-01 23:23:00	Always wondered where the CSI writes got their inspiration from.	SP8's (9836)
1228247	2011-09-01 23:36:00	If the fictitious story had been true, the builders would have been sued for failing to put the safety net just below the tenth floor. The makers of the net would have been sued for failing to include warnings about installing the net too low. Hawaiian and Las Vegas hotels would have prospered mightily from the conferences between counsel and their newly rich expert witnesses. The tide would have still come in twice a day, just like new treaty claims.	R2x1 (4628)
1228248	2011-09-02 06:06:00	Always wondered where the CSI writes got their inspiration from. You beat me to it!	Agent_24 (57)
1228249	2011-09-02 10:42:00	What about the violation of the rights of a person to throw themselves from any window, bridge, boat, mountain or cliff they may choose? Anyway, blardy good twisting tale to bend the brain on. However, in reality the butler done it. Never trust those damned butlers. Hasn't tv taught you anything?	Paul.Cov (425)
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