9/11/12 Fredericksburg man gets jail time in shooting death

  • By Nick Sabo
  • September 11, 2012
  • 386
                        
A Fredericksburg man was sentenced to jail time Tuesday Sept. 11 for accidentally causing the shooting death of a 15 year old girl. Marion Yoder, 28, 4734 Township Road 613, was sentenced by Holmes County Common Pleas Judge Robert D. Rinfret to 30 days in jail on one count of negligent homicide. Yoder pleaded to the charge, a first-degree misdemeanor, also Tuesday. Marion Yoder was accompanied at the defense table by his attorney, Grant Mason, and his father, Roy Yoder. While answering Rinfret’s questions, Marion Yoder often consulted with his father and Mason before answering. The charge stems from Dec. 15, 2011, when Marion Yoder allegedly discharged a .50 caliber muzzleloading rifle into the air sometime between 10:30 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. at his Salt Creek Township residence. The bullet came down at the intersection of County Road 229 and Township Road 614, where 15-year-old Rachel Yoder, of Fredericksburg, was driving a buggy home from a Christmas party. The bullet struck Rachel in the head, and she died Dec. 16 at Akron City Hospital from the injury. Marion Yoder came forward shortly after the incident to report that he had fired a round into the air at about the same time Rachel Yoder was shot. An extensive ballistics study by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation determined that a muzzleloader bullet fired from Marion Yoder’s residence into the air could have traveled on an airborne path to the County Road 229 and Township Road 614 intersection, Knowling said. Roy Yoder, reading a prepared statement on behalf of his son, said Marion’s mistake has left both his family and Rachel’s family “with many broken hearts”. “The events of Dec. 15 has left Rachel’s family and our family with many broken hearts, sleepless nights praying to God for an answer to all of this,” Roy Yoder said. “Why Rachel Yoder? Why Marion Yoder? Marion and our family can never make this up to the victim’s family...(but) we hope that they can somehow forgive us.” Yoder was originally charged with reckless homicide, a third degree felony. Holmes County Prosecuting attorney Steve Knowling said the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor because negligent homicide fits the circumstances of the fatal incident, as Marion Yoder had no criminal intent when firing the rifle. For reckless homicide, Knowling would have had to prove that Marion Yoder, in firing the muzzleloader, had direct knowledge that his actions could result in physical harm or death. “There was not a lot of criminal culpability,” Knowling said. “It’s like (driving) through a stop sign and you kill someone.” Mason said the negligent homicide charge was “appropriate” because “it was a negligent act.” “It is the appropriate charge and the appropriate punishment,” Mason said. In addition to the jail time, Rinfret sentenced Marion Yoder to three years probation, complete a gun safety course and refrain from hunting for three years. As a condition of his probation, Marion Yoder is not to possess firearms for three years.


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