Malta teen pleads 'true' in 2010 hunting death

MALTA (AP) — A 17-year-old Malta-area boy admitted Tuesday to negligently causing the death of a hunting companion in October 2010.

The boy pleaded "true" in Youth Court to negligent homicide for the death of Logan Wilson, 16, The Billings Gazette reported.

The plea agreement calls for the boy to be placed on probation until he turns 21. Judge John McKeon scheduled sentencing for Sept. 9.

The Associated Press withheld the boy's name because he is a juvenile.

The boy said he was about 50 yards behind Wilson and another boy as they hunted about 24 miles northwest of Malta on Oct. 23, 2010. He said he was watching a deer through the scope of his rifle and at one point, had seen Wilson through the scope, when he saw Wilson motion for him to come forward.

The boy said the rifle was loaded, the safety was off and his finger was on the trigger when he stood up from a kneeling position, lost his balance and somehow squeezed the trigger. Wilson was shot in the back of the neck.

The boy's attorney, Michael Moses, asked who caused the hunting accident.

The boy replied, "I did."

McKeon questioned the numerous conflicting accounts of the shooting given by the boy.

"Exactly what happened out there that day, I don't think we'll ever know," said Assistant Attorney General Ole Olson, who prosecuted the case.

Initially, the defendant, then 14, and the other boy on the hunting trip told authorities that Wilson accidentally shot himself, but an autopsy determined he had been shot by the same caliber of gun the defendant was carrying.

The Department of Justice investigated the case for more than a year. In December 2010, the defendant acknowledged the fatal shot had come from his rifle.

In January 2012, the Department of Justice determined there was not enough evidence to charge the boy in Wilson's death, but the agency recommended the Phillips County attorney charge the boys in Youth Court with obstruction of justice. The county attorney's office declined.