KELSO, Wash. (AP) — Cowlitz County Prosecutor Sue Baur says she’s still deciding how to proceed with a December 2009 case of a Kelso man allegedly shooting a burglary suspect in the buttocks with a hunting bow.
Baur says it’s unusual to take so long to decide whether she’ll charge Scott Allen Schwingdorf with anything. The prosecutor says she’s been studying related case-law in the matter.
Police say that when Schwingdorf saw Galen Louis Crayne prowling around a neighbor’s vacant property on December 13 of last year, he armed himself with a hunting bow and stalked Crayne for three blocks. Schwingdorf shot Crayne in the left buttock with a broadhead arrow. Crayne was later charged with residential burglary.
The Daily News reports that Baur said local juries have sided with people claiming self-defense in similar cases.
