Family seeks law against hunting while drinking

On Nov. 10, 2000, David McQuinley of Lebanon, Mo., went on a deer hunting trip with a friend and his friend's father.

McQuinley, who had just turned 18, didn't make it back. His friend's father accidentally shot him.

The man, William Ludlow of Waynesville, Mo., had been drinking. Around 3 p.m. that day, Ludlow, who is stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, aimed his rifle at what he said he thought was a wild pig sighted in the scope. He shot McQuinley, who died instantly. Ludlow told authorities at the time he drank three beers that day.

McQuinley's mother, Vonda Knell, and her husband, Danny, who then were stationed at Fort Leonard Wood and are now stationed in Fort Knox, Ky., have petitioned the Missouri Legislature ever since to stiffen the laws against hunting and drinking. This year is no exception.

No one knows whether Ludlow was drunk at the time, Knell said, because no one tested his blood alcohol content. She wants the state to pass a law to make it illegal to hunt while intoxicated.

"There are laws against drinking and driving and drinking and boating," Knell said. "I know if I can get this passed, then maybe the hunters will think twice before raising a weapon while drinking and shooting at something they don't know what it is."

Before he left office, state Rep. Denny Meredith of Caruthersville introduced legislation to strengthen the laws against hunting and drinking, but the bill went nowhere. Knell said that she has been corresponding with Rep. Frank Barnitz, D-Lake Spring, Mo., who said he would introduce legislation again when lawmakers reconvene in January.

Gene Myers, a local agent for the Department of Conservation, said there are no wildlife statutes that regulate drinking and hunting, but it is illegal to hunt while drunk. The same blood alcohol levels that govern drinking and driving would apply to determine the level of intoxication while hunting.

"Simply sitting there with a beer you might not be in violation," he said.

Roy Hoggatt, with the Department of Conservation in Jefferson City, said there are laws that apply to firing a gun while drunk.

"It doesn't apply just to hunting," he said. "It applies to anybody who is intoxicated and in possession of a firearm."

Under state law, being in possession of a firearm while intoxicated is a felony.

'Just let him walk'

Knell said she and her husband were upset at the way authorities in both Laclede County and the military investigated the incident.

Initially, she said, authorities treated her son's death as a hunting accident.

"There was no crime scene, no autopsy," she said. "There was no blood alcohol content test. They just let him walk."

She said that once the matter became public the Laclede County prosecuting attorney filed a charge of third-degree assault against Ludlow. Third-degree assault is a class A misdemeanor carrying a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

In March 2002, Ludlow pleaded guilty and was given a suspended sentence, placed on two years' probation and ordered to do 10 days shock time in jail on weekends. He was also ordered not to consume alcohol and was monitored by a Sobrietor, a monitor in his home that recorded his blood alcohol content and transmitted the results by telephone to his probation officer.

Vonda and Danny Knell won a wrongful death suit against Ludlow, but the $300,000 judgment they received is no consolation.

"It's just sitting in the bank," she said. "To me it's blood money.

"I don't want to take guns away from anybody or take their alcohol away," she said. "I feel we should have the same laws out there as we do for driving cars and drinking. If I can save one family from going through what we have gone through, and save one child's life, it will be worth it."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160