Difference between revisions 107624201 and 107636937 on dewiki

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{{Importartikel}}
'''Ronald Opus''' ist das Opfer eines fiktionalen Mordfalls, der häufig fälschlich als wahre Geschichte berichtet wird.

Die Geschichte wurde ursprünglich von [[Don Harper Mills]], dem damaligen Präsidenten der [[American Academy of Forensic Sciences]], in einer Rede bei einem Bankett im Jahr 1987 erzählt. Nachdem es im Internet als wahre Geschichte auftauchte und eine [[Moderne Sage]] wurde, erklärte Mills, er hätte sich die Geschichte als veranschaulichende Anekdote ausgedacht<ref name="Campbell">{{Literatur
| Online=http://books.google.com/books?id=wT4zVvtulH0C| Zugriff=2012-08-31| Titel=Making Crime Pay: The Writer's Guide to Criminal Law, Evidence, and Procedure| Autor=Andrea Campbell| Jahr=2002| Herausgeber=Allworth Communications, Inc.| ISBN=1-58115-216-7}}</ref>, um zu zeigen „wie unterschiedliche rechtliche Konsequenzen aus jeder Wendung einer Mordermittlung folgen können“.<ref name="Examiner"/>

Im August 1994 tauchte die Geschichte zum ersten Mal im Internet auf.<ref name="Snopes">{{Internetquelle|url=http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/opus.asp|titel=1994's Most Bizarre Suicide|werk=Urban Legends Reference Pages|hrsg=[[Snopes.com]]|zugriff=2008-02-11}}</ref> Seitdem wurde sie vielfach auf Webseiten, in Chatrooms, im [[Usenet]], auf [[Mailingliste]]n und auch in [[Printmedium|Printmedien]] weiterverbreitet. Die verbreiteten Varianten beinhalten oft Mills Namen und eine Veranstaltung im Jahr 1994 oder erwähnen einen angeblichen [[Associated Press|Associated-Press]]-Artikel zu dem Bankett.<ref name="Examiner">{{Internetquelle |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/10/01/EDITORIAL2953.dtl |titel=Fiction is stranger than truth:The Internet and e-mail have created a gullible village |autor=Examiner Editorial Writer |datum=1. Oktober 1999 |hrsg=[[San Francisco Examiner]] |zugriff=2008-02-11}}</ref> Mills zeigte sich darüber leicht überrascht und bezeichnete die Geschichte als „fabelhaft“, wobei er über die Jahre mehrfach Anfragen zu dem fiktiven Fall beantwortete.

Der fiktive Mordfall wurde in verschiedenen Medien adaptiert, eine der bekanntesten Varianten ist der Fall des „Sydney Barringer“ im Film [[Magnolia (Film)|Magnolia]] aus dem Jahr 1999.

== Der Ronald-Opus-Fall ==
Die allgemein bekannte Erzählung des Falls entspricht dem Folgendem:
{{Zitat-en|On March 23, 1994, a medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a gunshot wound of the head caused by a [[shotgun]]. Investigation to that point had revealed that the [[decedent]] had jumped from the top of a ten-story building with the intent to commit [[suicide]]. (He left a note indicating his despondency.) As he passed the 9th floor on the way down, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, killing him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a [[safety net]] had been erected at the 8th floor level to protect some window washers, and that the decedent would most likely not have been able to complete his intent to commit suicide because of this. 

Ordinarily, a person who starts into motion the events with a suicide intent ultimately commits suicide even though the mechanism might be not what he intended. That he was shot on the way to certain death nine stories below probably would not change his mode of death from suicide to [[homicide]], but the fact that his suicide intent would not have been achieved under any circumstance caused the medical examiner to feel that he had [[homicide]] on his hands. 

Further investigation led to the discovery that the room on the 9th floor from whence the shotgun blast emanated was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. He was threatening her with the shotgun because of an interspousal spat and became so upset that he could not hold the shotgun straight. Therefore, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife, and the pellets went through the window, striking the decedent. 

When one intends to kill subject A but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject B. The old man was confronted with this conclusion, but both he and his wife were adamant in stating that neither knew that the shotgun was loaded. It was the longtime habit of the old man to threaten his wife with an unloaded shotgun. He had no intent to murder her; therefore, the killing of the decedent appeared then to be accident. That is, the gun had been accidentally loaded. 

But further investigation turned up a witness that their son was seen loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to the fatal [[accident]]. That investigation showed that the mother (the old lady) had cut off her son's financial support, and her son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that the father would shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus. 

Now comes the exquisite twist. Further investigation revealed that the son, one Ronald Opus, had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to get his mother murdered. This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23, only to be killed by a [[shotgun]] blast through a 9th story [[window]]. 

The medical examiner closed the case as a [[suicide]].
|Übersetzung=Am 23. März 2003 untersuchte ein Rechtsmediziner den Körper von Ronald Opus und stellte fest, dass dieser aufgrund einer Schusswunde am Kopf starb, die von einer Schrotflinte verursacht wurde. Bis zu diesem Punkt gemachte Untersuchungen zeigten, dass der Tote von der Spitze eines zehnstöckigen Gebäudes gesprungen war um sich selbst zu töten. (Er hinterließ eine Nachricht, die seine Verzweiflung deutlich machte) Als auf dem Weg nach unten den neunten Stock passierte, wurde sein Leben durch einen Schuss einer Schrotflinte durch das Fenster beendet, er war sofort tot. Weder der Schütze noch der Tote wussten, dass auf Höhe des achten Stockwerks ein [[Sicherheitsnetz]] aufgespannt war, um einige Fensterputzer zu schützen, und dass der Tote deswegen sehr wahrscheinlich nicht in der Lage gewesen wäre, seine Absicht, Selbstmord zu begehen, durchzuführen.}}

== In der Populärkultur ==
Der Fall kam in folgenden Fernsehserien und Filmen vor:
* [[Homicide]], Staffel 6 Folge 4: „Shaggy Dog, City Goat.“
* [[Law & Order]], hier erwähnt der [[District Attorney]] Ben Stone den hypothetischen Fall eines Mannes, der eines Schinkensandwiches wegen vom [[Empire State Building]] springt und auf dem Weg nach unten von einer Person erschossen wird, die von einem Selbstmord ausgeht
* die australische Fernsehserie ''Murder Call'' in einer Folge aus dem Jahr 1998
* Im Film [[Magnolia (Film)|Magnolia]], wobei einige Details geändert wurden
* [[CSI: Miami]], ein Mann wird von einem Gebäude gestossen und im Fall von einem Schuss aus einer [[Signalpistole]] getroffen

== Einzelnachweise ==
<references />

<nowiki>
{{SORTIERUNG:Opus, Ronald}}

[[Kategorie:Fiktive Person]]
[[Kategorie:Moderne Sage]]

[[en:Ronald Opus]]
[[ko:로널드 오퍼스]]
[[ru:Самоубийство Роналда Опуса]]
[[zh:罗纳德·奥普斯]]
</nowiki>'''Ronald Opus''' suicide case is believed to be one of the most bizarre suicide as an [[urban legend]]. 

On [[1994-03-23]] a medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a gunshot wound of the head caused by a [[shotgun]]. Investigation to that point had revealed that the decedent had jumped from the top of a ten story building with the intent to [[commit suicide]]. (He left a note indicating his despondency.) As he passed the 9th floor on the way down, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, killing him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the 8th floor level to protect some window washers, and that the decedent would not have been able to complete his intent to commit suicide because of this. 

Ordinarily, a person who starts into motion the events with a suicide intent ultimately commits suicide even though the mechanism might be not what he intended. That he was shot on the way to certain death nine stories below probably would not change his mode of death from suicide to [[homicide]], but the fact that his suicide intent would not have been achieved under any circumstance caused the medical examiner to feel that he had [[homicide]] on his hands. 

Further [[investigation]] led to the discovery that the room on the 9th floor from whence the shotgun blast emanated was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. He was threatening her with the shotgun because of an interspousal spat and became so upset that he could not hold the shotgun straight. Therefore, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife, and the pellets went through the window, striking the decedent. 

When one intends to kill subject A, but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject B. The old man was confronted with this conclusion, but both he and his wife were adamant in stating that neither knew that the shotgun was loaded. It was the longtime habit of the old man to threaten his wife with an unloaded shotgun. He had no intent to murder her; therefore, the killing of the decedent appeared then to be accident. That is, the gun had been accidentally loaded. 

But further investigation turned up a witness that their son was seen loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to the fatal [[accident]]. That investigation showed that the mother (the old lady) had cut off her son's financial support, and her son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that the father would shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus. 

Further investigation revealed that the son became increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to get his mother murdered. This led him to jump off the ten story building on March 23, only to be killed by a [[shotgun]] blast through a 9th story [[window]]. 

The medical examiner closed the case as a [[suicide]].

==See Also==
*[[Urban legend]]
*[[Suicide]]

[[Category:Urban legends]]