AUBURN — The widow of a hunter shot to death in his yard last fall has filed a civil lawsuit against Christopher Austin of Wales, seeking claim to $500,000 worth of real estate in compensation for her husband’s wrongful death.
Austin shot and killed Gerard Parent on Nov. 20 after following two deer into the woods just off Route 126 in Wales. According to investigators, both men were hunting with rifles and were believed to have been hunting the same animals.
Parent fired once; Austin fired twice.
According to Cpl. John MacDonald of the Maine Warden Service, Austin’s second shot struck Parent and killed him.
The incident was reported at 4:19 p.m., shortly before the end of the hunting day.
In January, Austin pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter and shooting too close to a residence.
Parent’s widow, Becky Ann Brown, filed the civil action in Androscoggin County Superior Court and has asked the court to attach Austin’s real estate to ensure her wrongful death claim.
According to that claim, Brown is devastated by her husband’s loss and is “under the care of a physician because of the emotional turmoil as a result of Gerry’s death.”
She has struggled since November to hold a full-time job and is presently unemployed, she claims, due to emotional problems linked to her husband’s death.
Brown’s claim to attach Austin’s real estate is supported by a sworn affidavit of a neighbor who heard the shots minutes after seeing Austin get out of his truck to cross the street. The claim includes a second affidavit from another neighbor who tried to help Austin and a passer-by resuscitate Parent at the scene before an ambulance arrived.
According to court records, on Nov. 20 Austin stopped his truck on Route 126 and ran toward a house between that road and East Road after seeing two deer cross Route 126. He shot once after crossing the road and walked toward a wooded area behind that house to look for the deer.
Austin told police he did not have the homeowner’s permission to hunt on that property.
As he came around the house, according to court documents, Austin saw Parent behind his house and told police he thought Parent shot at his deer. Austin told police he lost track of Parent, and when he shot again he saw “the target” drop.
According to police reports and court records, when Austin ran to that target, he found Parent on the ground with a gunshot wound to the chest. Parent was wearing a white T-shirt under a blaze-orange vest.
He was 49 years old and, according to Brown, was disabled because of a chronic and progressive degenerative disc disease. He augmented his Social Security disability payments with occasional carpentry jobs.
The couple married in April 2011.
In addition to his wife, Parent is survived by two adult daughters.
Austin is awaiting trial on $5,000 cash bail. If convicted of felony manslaughter, he faces up to 30 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Brown is being represented by Auburn attorney Stephen Wade of Skelton, Taintor & Abbott.
Austin is being represented in his criminal case by Lewiston attorney Scott Lynch of Hornblower, Lynch, Rabasco & Van Dyke.
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