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Vermont Hunting Tragedy Draws Crowd to Court

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By WILSON RING The Associated Press - Published: July 7, 2009

ST. JOHNSBURY — A man charged with killing his son on the first day of Vermont's spring turkey hunting season pleaded not guilty Monday to a manslaughter charge that could send him to prison for up to 15 years.

Kevin Kadamus' arraignment in Vermont District Court in St. Johnsbury lasted just over a minute, and about 150 supporters lined the walls to see it.

The crowd then went outside and watched as Kadamus' brother-in-law Tom Loftus said he shouldn't be prosecuted. After the statement, the crowd started singing "My Country 'tis of Thee," apparently spontaneously.

Jacob Kadamus, 17, was shot once by his father with a 12-gauge shotgun early in the morning on May 1 in the town of Wheelock. Investigators say Jacob moved from the area where he had been hunting into his father's. The teenager, a popular athlete at Lyndon Institute, died at the scene.

"Kevin will suffer for the rest of his days due to this tragedy," said Loftus, who spoke for the family, including Kevin Kadamus.

"The state of Vermont has had several opportunities, within the law, to let this family grieve and not pursue criminal charges that could take Kevin away from his wife and children, who so desperately need him now," Loftus said in a brief statement.

Loftus did not take questions. Caledonia County State's Attorney Lisa Warren declined to comment after the hearing.

Prosecutors do not allege that Kevin Kadamus meant to shoot his son and agree the boy's death was a tragedy. But over the last several years prosecutors across the state have taken a harder line in such cases.

Game wardens say it's not an accident when someone fires a weapon at the wrong target.

"We talk about the 10 commandments of hunter education and one of the primary ones is target identification," said Vermont's chief game warden Col. David LeCours. "When you shoot at something and it isn't what you wanted, you didn't properly identify your target."

In at least three recent Vermont hunting fatalities the shooters have been sent to prison for killing people in what once would have been considered accidents.

But Kevin Kadamus' supporters said that didn't apply in this case.

"How is justice really being served here? What's the underlying reason for this prosecution? To me it seems like there's more of a sense of vengeance than justice involved here," said Bill Beaulac, 53.

Beaulac is a neighbor of the Kadamuses in Lyndon and attends the same church.

"He's great family man, a civic leader, a church leader," Beaulac said. "It's just a really sad case."