Hunting accident ends in arrest

BAY MINETTE — The man who killed his stepfather in a January hunting accident was booked into jail Sunday on a misdemeanor criminally negligent homicide charge, Baldwin County authorities said.

Clayton Albert Crane, 24, of Bay Minette shot outdoorsman Larry Vincent "Vince" Rook, 42, while they were hunting in the early evening of Jan. 22, according to reports.

Crane surrendered at the Baldwin County Corrections Center and was released on $5,000 bail Sunday, a jail spokesman said.

The Baldwin County Sheriff's Office did not charge Crane following the incident, but the case was presented to a grand jury in September, said Baldwin District Attorney Judy Newcomb.

Investigators said Crane was about 100 yards away when he shot Rook in the head with a .270-caliber rifle. Neither man was wearing hunter's orange at the time, about 5:30 p.m., according to reports.

Newcomb said such cases are typically presented to a grand jury.

"It was a hunting situation, and those are never an intentional thing. No one ever goes hunting to shoot another human being. So the question was whether it was criminally negligent," she said.

Newcomb said the panel considered the "totality of the circumstances."

"A crucial issue was the time of day the shot was taken," she said. "The focus of the investigation was the time of day and whether you can clearly identify your target."

The relationship between Crane and Rook made the incident "tragic and sad" but a grand jury must "look at conduct in terms of public safety."

Criminally negligent homicide is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail upon conviction.