Charles Edward Shisler
Local news
A Panama City Beach man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and drug charges in connection with an accidental shooting last year that killed a new father the same day he brought his three-day old son home from the hospital, according to a report in the Panama City News Herald.
Charles Edward Shisler, 62, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of methamphetamine and was sentenced Friday, the News Herald reports.
The shooting occurred on June 17, 2014, when Shisler told police his gun went off when he picked it up by the trigger. The bullet traveled more than 200 feet, through Shisler's window screen, through a stand of trees and a glass door before striking Steven Justin Ayers in the back of the head and killing him.
Ayers, a local musician and guitar teacher, and his wife Jessica brought their first child home from the hospital that day and family members were gathering for a party when the shooting occurred. Ayers' son had been born on Father's Day.
"The odds, I'd guess, are one in infinity," Bay County Sheriff's Office Maj. Tommy Ford said at the time. "This was just tragic."
The investigation led BCSO deputies to Shisler's house, where they found Shisler, along with a glass pipe and "shake and bake" kit which tested positive for methamphetamine.
"The damn gun doesn't usually shoot," Shisler said, according to the arrest report. "You have to squeeze the hell out of the trigger to shoot it."
Considering that he started out with complete denial when the police talked to him, I don't know that I'd even buy the negligent discharge story, though his guilty plea makes it moot.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the prosecutor was going to originally charge to get a guilty plea for manslaughter.
how to get arrested immediately and go to jail for an accidental shooting
ReplyDeleteIn the past you said the answer was "be back or have neck tattoos"?
Is that supposed to be a gotcha? Please stop doing that. Do you have something to say about the post, really? Was the sentence a bit excessive? How come non-felons who do this exact same thing get nothing, not even charges?
DeleteMaybe you should stop always making it about race. Then when you show an example of a white guy getting busted nobody will feel compelled to do gotchas.
DeleteYes, there is a disparity when someone is a felon, high, drunk, or any combination thereof. You don't think there should be? We treat fatal car accidents differently if the driver had their license revoked, or is drunk or high as well. Do you take issue with that?
Oh, so when you resort to petty gotchas it's my fault. Way to take responsibility for your actions.
Delete2Yes, there is a disparity when someone is a felon, high, drunk, or any combination thereof. You don't think there should be?"
What I think is that gun negligence should be taken more seriously than it is. It should far outweigh the possession of pot or the illegal possession of a gun. The negligence is far worse, but it's not treated as such.
I'll use your way of dolling out responsibility: I am 100% responsible for calling you out with gotchas, and you are 100% responsible for providing me with material with your gross inconsistencies.
DeleteI don't feel that the sentence was excessive. Everybody hates tweakers. This guy will probably get a lot healthier in prison. So he was either hopped up or burned out or both at the time of the shooting. I think the alcohol level is negligible compared to that. I know every human life is valuable. But consider the tragic loss for the family. So unjust.
ReplyDeleteThe part that struck me as odd was that the officer called it a one in infinity chance. the bullet went through a screen, then two hundred feet away through a window. That's infinitesimal resistance. Not enough to even deflect its path. I'd call that more like one in a thousand.