A friend of mine was shot last Friday while taking a nap by some yo-yo handling a gun in the apartment next to hers. (She’s okay, BTW, though still in the hospital.)
What legal ramifications are there to this? Can the guy be charged with assault, even though he fired the gun unintentionally? (She lives in one of the southern states - Georgia, IIRC.) Or is there some other class of criminal charge that’s more applicable here?
IANAL but I’d guess there are civil charges at the very least and possible criminal negligence or something like that. She should most definitely get her medical expenses taken care of. Moronic gun handlers really piss me off. I hope he gets reamed. Others will give the same advice so just to say it first: your friend should absolutely get a lawyer. Consultations are cheap and valuable. I hope she isn’t hurt too badly and wish her a quick and full recovery.
The typical disclaimers:
This is not legal advice.
I’m completely unaware of Ga. law.
It is definately not an assault, because he had no intent, as you pointed out. However, where I am there is a criminal statute that specifically deals with reckless discharge of a firearm. There is also a catch all misdemeanor charge called Reckless Conduct, which is basically putting somebody else at risk. I’m guessing Ga. has those kinda statutes, but again I’m not sure.
I also think your friend should sue the heck out of the idiot boy who did this.