By Vinny Vella
De The Philadelphia Inquirer
Apologizing profusely for his actions, a Bucks County, Pennsylvania, hunter was sentenced to seven to 20 years in state prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the accidental shooting death of a teenager in Nockamixon State Park last fall. past.
Kenneth Heller, 52, of Warminster, told Magistrate Court Judge Jeffrey L. Finley that he thought he was pointing his .17-caliber rifle at a woodchuck on Oct. 24. To obtain information on the case, Heller learned that he had killed 18-year-old Jason Kutt, who was watching an early fall sunset with his girlfriend on the shore of Lake Nockamixon.
“I would rather it was me who died that day than Jason,” Heller said in the courtroom, addressing more than 30 of Kutt’s friends, family and supporters who attended. “I can’t wake up from this nightmare, and I don’t think I ever will.”
Finley said he had no doubt that Heller was sorry. But he admonished the longtime hunter, saying that he was apparently thinking more of himself than the grieving family after word of Kutt’s death spread.
“You not only knew what you had done, you knew the trauma you inflicted on this family and you knew that the community feared that a murderer would go insane in Nockamixon Park,” Finley said. “Your panic turned into selfishness and self-preservation.”
Investigators searched for Kutt’s killer for 60 days, following clues that were available at the rare crime scene. Finally, an anonymous person told authorities that Keller’s vehicle was parked at Nockamixon State Park on the day of the shooting. Subsequent interviews with Heller’s co-workers revealed that he had not shown up for work the Monday after the shooting and had started giving away rifles, ammunition and other hunting equipment.
When detectives served a search warrant at his home, they found the gun that killed Kutt. Heller, in conversations with detectives during Wednesday’s hearing, said he had been planning to turn himself in but had started procrastinating, wishing “one more day” with his family.
Kutt’s parents, flooded with grief and anger, told the judge how hard they were looking for one more day with their son.
“There is a big hole in our heart that will never heal,” said Ron Kutt, Jason’s father. “When you lose someone, your only child, in such a heinous way, you know you will never be healed.”
In the months since their son’s death, Kutt and his wife, Dana, have become advocates of stricter hunting regulations in Pennsylvania state parks. They have also raised money on behalf of Jason, forming a grant program at his alma mater, Upper Bucks Technical School.
Perhaps the most direct impact they have had was the installation of a raised bench, handcrafted by Ron Kutt, at the scene of the shooting, a secure seating area they believe will prevent more tragic accidents by hunters.
But the couple made it clear that the impact of their son’s death will reverberate for the rest of their lives. They spoke of sleepless nights, of “hundreds of shed tears” and of meetings with counselors specializing in violent trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.
© 2021 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visite inquirer.com. Distribuido por Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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