Man gets 90 days for fatal hunting accident
by ANNA BROWN

A Lockhart man who killed his friend in a hunting accident was given a 90-day prison sentence Thursday.

Donald Allen Canupp, 23, of 275 Lockhart Drive pleaded guilty to use of a firearm in a criminally negligent manner.

Circuit Judge Edward Miller of Greenville sentenced Canupp to three years in prison, suspended the sentence to 90 days of time, gave Canupp five years of probation and ordered him to pay $12,231 in restitution.

Canupp was arrested by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources on May 20, 2008. The shooting that killed Larry Joe Lindler Jr. occurred on Dec. 31, 2007, in a wooded area near Lindler’s home on Howell Road in Jonesville. Lindler died at the scene from a 30.06 gunshot wo und to the abdomen area.

At the time of the shooting, Lt. Robert McCullough, DNR spokesman, said Canupp told officers he and Lindler, 48, went into the woods together on Lindler’s property to hunt deer.

They had separated and were going hunting on different parts of the property. They ended up coming back to the same spot, about 75 yards apart. One was hunting on one side of a hollow and the other on the other side. McCullough said Canupp told officers he fired after seeing movement in the bushes.

At the time of the accident, McCullough said Lindler was dressed in camel-colored overalls and was not wearing an orange hunting safety vest.