Cannon failure - Manslaughter charge

[Claude Mathis]

MANCHESTER, Iowa -- Six months after a homemade cannon explosion killed an Edgewood woman, the man accused of firing it faces an involuntary manslaughter charge.

Max J. Fenton, 29, of Greeley, was arrested and charged Wednesday in Iowa District Court for Delaware County with the felony. He was released after posting a $5,000 bond and signing a document promising to appear in court Feb. 1.

Delaware County emergency responders were dispatched at about 11:40 p.m. July 2 to 109 Church St. in Greeley for a report of a woman with a serious head injury. Lori L. Heims, 55, who was at the residence with friends, was transported by ambulance to Regional Medical Center in Manchester. She then was airlifted to University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics in Iowa City, where she died.

Court documents state Fenton fired an "improvised cannon" loaded with explosive material.

"During the firing of the cannon, its improvised breech (at the base) failed, sending a fragment towards nearby spectators," court documents said.

Heims was hit in the head by the fragment.

Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere previously said the 13-inch cannon was made from the sawed-off barrel of a .50-caliber, black powder rifle. LeClere said Fenton reported using it previously without issue.

LeClere said Thursday that the delay in the criminal charge was due to a long wait for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations crime lab to test the cannon.

"We just got the report back last week," he said.

 

[Black Hand]

Can't fix STUPID....it is a terminal life-long affliction.

 

[MSW]

isn't manslaughter a 'specific intent' crime?

 

[coloradoclyde]

isn't manslaughter a 'specific intent' crime?

Specified by intent....Voluntary vs. involuntary
http://dictionary.law.com/default.aspx?selected=1209

 

[steam1993]

Would like to know what happened to blow the breach. My be too much powder,or did he use smokeless.

 

[Gene L]

Involuntary MS sometimes means doing something legal in an illegal or criminally careless manner.

Says a "13-inch gun." I don't know exactly what that means, if it's 13" long (which I suspect) or 13" in diameter, which is a big-*** gun. More details are needed.

 

[Major Dorman]

Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere previously said the 13-inch cannon was made from the sawed-off barrel of a .50-caliber, black powder rifle.

 

[Gene L]

Which means it was 13 inches long?

 

[Ames]

Sounds like it was built to sit on top of a picnic table. Also sounds like he did not get the ball all the way down or used smokeless in the thing.

 

[Bo T]

Which means it was 13 inches long?

That's how I read it.

 

[Col. Batguano]

The OP also said "improvised breech". Who knows what that means, because it's a lead pipe certainty that the writer of the article (or likely the police report) was not as familiar with BP operations as most of the populace of this forum.

On a separate note, some speculated that the projectile was seated above the powder charge and created a "shaped charge" and excessive breech pressure. Fine. We all know that's a no-no. But in cartridge guns the powder often does not fill the case up to the bullet baser or cartridge neck. Why don't they obsess about it the way we in BP do? Cartridge pressures are rugularly far far above those in BP. Just asking.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Well at no point does it say it was loaded with a projectile. Probably part of a 4th of July backyard, barbeque, and numb-nuts probably used smokeless with a wadding alone = thinking he was using BP so measured by volume and I'd bet he had something like 100 [bp] grains worth of something like Red Dot. KAAABOOOOOOM! :shake: :nono:

LD

 

[hawkeye2]

"Here hold my beer while I light this thing an then plug yer ears cause this time...."

 

[sheba]

Seems like it should of been criminal negligence causing death instead of involuntary manslaughter

 

[coloradoclyde]

Seems like it should of been criminal negligence causing death instead of involuntary manslaughter

Involuntary manslaughter usually refers to an unintentional killing that results from recklessness or criminal negligence, or from an unlawful act that is a misdemeanor or low-level felony (such as a DUI).

 

[coloradoclyde]

Here's a similar case....at the very least, it is cause for reflection.....

https://youtu.be/UbQNvKdIsqo



Here are some more examples....

https://youtu.be/Wi9iIuKh5Us

https://youtu.be/rWHObQZ6jeQ

https://youtu.be/NbsLxJUNr8M

 

[Gene L]

Seems like it should of been criminal negligence causing death instead of involuntary manslaughter

Same thing depending on the way the law is defined. In my state, it would be Invol Manslaughter.

 

[Grumpa]

But in cartridge guns the powder often does not fill the case up to the bullet baser or cartridge neck. Why don't they obsess about it the way we in BP do? Cartridge pressures are rugularly far far above those in BP. Just asking.

Unlike gunpowder/black powder, modern smokeless powder is not an explosive, it burns, creating gas/pressure, that in turn increases (rapidly) the burning rate, which in turn creates more gasses/pressure etc, etc. Thus, the space between powder and projectile is not a critical safety issue.

Black powder, on the other hand, explodes, and reaches its full power right now, so if there is a space between powder and projectile, the projectile becomes a bore obstruction.

Richard/Grumpa

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Improvised breach. Probably welded or soldered a plug into the end. I hate to think of the number of 4th of july pipe bombs out there, called cannons. At least the guy used a black powder barrel instead of pipe. A fellow rather famous in muzzle loader circles once just filled a muzzle loader pistol barrel with black powder , held it over his head and pulled the trigger. After the explosion, he had a trigger guard around one finger and needed skin grafts to repair the powder burned skin on the top of his hand and fore finger.

 

[Col. Batguano]

In the days long before the internet and Darwin Awards, I confess to filling a 9" 45 caliber barrel with powder (no ball or wadding) and pulling the trigger. Dumb! I remember getting rained on by unburned powder flecks, so my guess is that about half of it went out the barrel without burning. Who knows what the pressure built to, but with no appreciable resistance, it MIGHT not have been too high. . It made a great muzzle flash though. I only did it once.