A Criminal Justice Mystery

THE FACTS:

On March 23, 2012 Dr. Frank Kills, a New York City medical examiner, examined the body of Mr.
William Woeful, and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Woeful had
jumped from the top of a 20-story high rise building with the express intent to commit
suicide. Mr. Woeful left a note to the effect indicating his despondency. As he fell past the 12th floor,
his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through the window. The blast killed him instantly.
Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the 11th
floor to protect some window washers on the scaffolding there. Consequently, Mr. Woeful would not
have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned; he would have likely lived.

"Ordinarily," Dr. Kills opined, "Someone who sets out to commit suicide and ultimately succeeds,
even though the mechanism might not be what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide."
The fact that Mr. Woeful was shot on his way to an otherwise planned death, but probably would
not have been successful because of the safety net, led the medical examiner to believe that this
was a murder/homicide.

The room on the 12th floor, where the shotgun blast emitted from, was occupied by an elderly
couple-- Mr. & Mrs. Bickerson. The Bickerson’s had been arguing that day and Mr. Bickerson
threatened to shoot his wife with his gun. Mr. Bickerson was so upset that when he pulled the
trigger, that he missed his wife completely. Instead, the bullet went through the window and struck
Mr. Woeful. Homicide/murder may be found under a theory of transferred intent, "when a person
intends to kill one person, but kills a second person instead in the attempt."

When confronted with a murder charge here, the old man and his wife were both adamant that they
thought the shotgun was not loaded. The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his
wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder his wife.

However, the continuing investigation revealed an eye witnesses who stated that she saw the
Bickerson's son loading the gun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It transpired that Mrs.
Bickerson had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing of his father' s habit of
threatening his wife with the gun when they argued, loaded the gun.

THE QUESTION-as prosecutor and/or defense counsel:

Who are the likely suspects in the death of Mr. Woeful?

What are the best arguments against, and in defense of, each suspect?
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