Douglas L. Bauer (Defendant) was charged with third-degree assault. The Superior Court, Kitsap County, denied Bauer’s motion to dismiss, but certified matter to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals upheld the denial of motion to dismiss in a split decision. The Washington Supreme Court granted discretionary review and reversed (5–1) the Court of Appeals.

Facts

On February 22, 2012, at about 1:30 p.m., the children at Armin Jahr Elementary School in Bremerton, Washington, were getting ready to go home for the day. As the teacher prepared to lead the children from the classroom to the school bus, she heard a loud pop. Looking around, the teacher saw one child bent over with blood on her hands. She summoned other staff, and before long they realized that the bloodied child had been shot.

A staff member noticed a backpack on TC’s desk. It contained a gun. The backpack was identified as TC’s backpack, and after the police arrived, TC was transported to a Youth Services Center for booking. Police later concluded that the gun, a Heckler & Koch .45 caliber pistol, had discharged “while still inside the backpack......”

1. List all of the facts relevant to deciding whether Douglas Bauer was the factual and legal (proximate)

cause of TC’s classmate’s gunshot wounds.

2. Summarize the majority opinion’s arguments that Bauer was not the proximate cause of the wounds.

3. Summarize the dissent’s arguments that Bauer was the proximate cause of the wounds.

4. In your opinion, who has the stronger arguments, the majority or the dissent? Defend your answer.

5. In your opinion, how important should the studies cited by the dissent be in reaching the court’s decision? Defend your answer.

6. In your opinion, was this a crime or a tragic accident? Defend your answer.