Captainchee...
...I think you'll agree that there is more than one "scenario" that is possible. Any number of other circumstances may have happened. Who's to say that someone elsewhere didn't fire their rifle into the air and THEY are the guilty party who caused the girl's death?
If the local sheriff does ballistics tests that PROVES beyond a reasonable doubt that the projectile that killed the girl came from that specific muzzle loading rifle, then I'll accept that the man cleaning his rifle accidentally cause the young girl's death.
Otherwise, we're all only "guessing" as to WHO actually fired the shot that killed the girl.
Ron T.
You're making it sound like the odds are in the shooter's favor that another person was cleaning his muzzle loader and fired a round into the air, and
they're responsible for the murder.
With all the publicity surrounding the death don't you think if another shot was fired from somewhere else it would have been heard and reported?
Besides, if the Sheriff's Department sent the body to a medical examiner, who was half-way competent, for autopsy, he'll be able to determine a lot from the entry point and the wound pathway (direction & angle).
It ain't even 50:50 that this guy fired the shot that killed the girl; it's more like 95:05.
