01/16/2009

Associated Press

A southwest Oregon man who shot and killed his friend during an October hunting accident has pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide with a weapon.

Kelly E. Johnson, 41, of Powers appeared at the Coos County Courthouse this week. During the hearing, Judge Martin Stone told him that "the state is alleging on or about Oct. 26, 2008, in Coos County, Oregon, you unlawfully, with criminal negligence, did cause the death of Cody Armstrong, another human being."

"Sir," the judge asked, "do you understand that serious charge?"

Johnson simply replied, "Yes, sir," and gave his guilty plea.

Johnson told police in October that he was aiming at a deer when 20-year-old Cody Armstrong was shot in the head in the Siskiyou National Forest about 16 miles from the small town of Powers.

Johnson, who will be sentenced Tuesday, faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and fine of $250,000. He will also have to pay $4,639 in restitution for Armstrong's funeral.

Armstrong's mother, Angie Armstrong, 45, was joined at the hearing by more than a half-dozen relatives, many of them crying. She said she felt satisfied that Johnson had been held accountable.

"He made a horrible, tragic mistake and one that was overwhelmingly preventable," Angie Armstrong said tearfully. "If children are going to hunt, they need to be well-educated in what is right and what is wrong because things happen just as tragic as this."

Her son, she said, had been friends with Johnson for some time and the family had known him as well.

"We're not hateful toward him at all," said Cody's 22-year-old sister Tara Armstrong of Coos Bay. "We're remorseful for him and his family, but he should be held accountable for what he did."

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Information from: The World, http://www.theworldlink.com