Hunter gets probation in death of teen-ager

LEBANON, Mo. -- A Southwest Missouri hunter has been placed on two years probation in the fatal shooting of a teen-ager whom he mistook for a wild pig.

William Ludlow Jr., an instructor in the noncommissioned officer academy at Fort Leonard Wood, also was given 10 days' jail "shock time" to be served on his days off from his Army duties in exchange for a suspended sentence of one year in the county jail.

In addition, Ludlow was ordered not to consume alcohol and will be monitored for six months by a "Sobrietor," an in-home monitoring device that measures breath-alcohol content via the telephone.

David McQuinley, 18, of Fort Leonard Wood, was shot in the chest at dusk on Nov. 10, 2000. McQuinley was a friend of Ludlow's son. Ludlow had admitted to Army investigators that he'd had three beers the day he shot McQuinley.

He told authorities he'd thought McQuinley was a wild pig and shot him with a .30-06-caliber rifle. Ludlow also told authorities that he did not believe he was impaired at the time of the shooting.

McQuinley's father, Danny Knell, wiped back tears Monday as he read the family's statement during Ludlow's sentencing in Laclede County Associate Circuit Court.

"On that day, Ludlow not only killed David; he killed my family. Things will never be the same. ... He left him to die in the woods on a cold pond bank, all alone."

Ludlow told Army investigators that McQuinley had been alive when he and three other members of the hunting party left him, but since he'd thought there was no hope for McQuinley, he sent his two sons home and he and an adult friend went for help.

The Knells want lawmakers to pass tougher penalties for hunting accidents, which hunting educators have been unsuccessfully advocating for years.