The man charged in a fatal hunting accident that occurred in October entered a guilty plea to reckless homicide and wanton endangerment Wednesday in Christian Circuit Court.
Julian Newton was originally charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of 58-year old Charles Newton, but the plea offer he accepted Wednesday amended that to reckless homicide. It came with a recommended sentence of five-years, along with first-degree wanton endangerment, hunting from a vehicle and illegal taking of a deer. Defense attorney Mark Gilbert represents Julian Newton and requested that sentence be diverted, calling the incident a tragic accident.
Circuit Judge Andrew Self accepted the guilty plea and granted Newton unsupervised probation for the duration of the sentence.
The court proceeded with final sentencing Wednesday. As previously reported, The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife investigated the October 18 incident on McKinney Road and determined Julian Newton had been hunting from his vehicle parked along the edge of a field at about 6:30 on that evening.
At the same time, Charles Newton and his wife were on an ATV trying to observe a deer crossing a power line clearing. The pair saw Julian Newton in the motor vehicle.
Julian Newton reportedly told investigators that he thought the couple had left the area before he saw what he thought was a deer and fired his muzzleloader. Charles Newton was struck in the head and was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Christian County coroner.