August 21, 2004, 11:08 AM EDT
THROOP, N.Y. (AP) _ A man was charged with criminally
negligent homicide in the death last winter of a fellow deer hunter.
Thomas Calescibetta Jr., 40, of Port Byron, faces up to
four years in state prison if convicted on the felony charge filed Friday.
Calescibetta had admitted accidentally shooting Jerry
Sylvester, 43, while the two were hunting Dec. 9 on Sylvester's property
near Auburn, in the Finger Lakes region. Calescibetta called 911 to report
the shooting.
"A reasonable hunter would have confirmed that his target
was a deer and not a human being," said Cayuga County District Attorney
James B. Vargason.
In the '80s, Calescibetta was the key witness for the
prosecution in the murder trial of man accused of killing an Auburn woman in
1981. Calescibetta later recanted his testimony. The conviction in that case
was later overturned.
Information from: The Post-Standard,
Fair Use Notice: This document may contain copyrighted material
whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. We believe
that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes
a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section
107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted
material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must
obtain permission from the copyright owner.
