A Rochester man, charged with killing his sister-in-law while out hunting in Caledonia in November, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Livingston County Court to one count of criminally negligent homicide, a class E felony.
As part of a plea bargain with the Livingston County District Attorney’s Office, John W. Lander, 50, is expected to serve four months of weekends in the Livingston County Jail.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 13.
Lander’s charges stems from an incident that occurred Nov. 27 in which he was participating in a deer drive with a group of fellow hunters.
During the drive, another member of the hunting party fired their gun and Lander began to run toward the sound.
While running, he began to remove his shotgun from where it hung over his shoulder.
While he was doing so, the shotgun fired and struck Lander’s sister-in-law, Sharon Lander, who was behind him.
The incident occurred near the 900 block of River Road in Caledonia.
Sharon Lander was struck in the abdomen. She was declared dead at Strong Memorial Hospital
According to the District Attorney’s Office, Lander’s failure to adhere to the tenets of firearm safety and his negligent actions, including carrying a loaded firearm with the safety off and running with a loaded firearm, resulted in Sharon Lander’s death.
The District Attorney’s Office will continue to work with officers with the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation to prosecute deer-poaching and other environmental crimes in Livingston County.
In light of Lander’s guilty plea, DEC is reminding hunters of the basic rules of firearm safety. Among the rules are:
1. Treat every firearm as if it’s loaded.
2. Always keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction.
3. Never point your firearm at anything you don’t wish to kill.
4. Keep your finger off of the trigger and outside the trigger guard of your firearm until you make the conscious decision to shoot.
5. Be sure of your target and what lies beyond it to prevent shooting something unintentionally.
The District Attorney’s Office and DEC are asking the public to report an environmental crime of they witness it or believe an environmental law has been violated.
Exposing the Big Game 
I’m no attorney, but this doesn’t seem like much of a penalty. Of course, hunters don’t get much, if any, punishment for infractions that harm animals. But we have learned to expect that.
Amazing, but quite frankly I don’t give a damn that she is dead and he is getting only 4 months. In fact, I think that is great because the death of that woman gone unpunished is the best punishment for her family. Furthermore, her death is like the deaths of animals she must have murdered before being shot herself. I hope this will leave a bad feeling in that family of killers that festers and becomes a curse.
Good point.
We always hope that such accidents will get hunters to think again about that stupidity they call sport.
What if they’re just too stupid to think? A hunter in this area was accidently. When interviewed, he complained about how terrible and how painful it was. But when he was asked if he planned to stop hunting, he wouldn’t answer. Didn’t sound promising.