HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) — A 19-year-old Oregon man has pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in the shooting death of a friend.
Cody James Ward received a four-year prison sentence Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court.
County prosecutors say 15-year-old Trenton Lester died Sept. 17 at Ward’s home because of Ward’s fatal error.
Deputy District Attorney Bracken McKey said the Forest Grove teens were “playing around” when Ward loaded a shell into a barrel of his father’s short-barrel shotgun that Ward thought was inoperable. Police say Ward told them he pointed the gun at Lester’s head and it went off.
Ward also pleaded guilty to an unlawful weapon charge and an unrelated count.
