I think that the judge had already sided with the ex-game warden's opinion before the "trial" started. The lawyer for the defendant didn't do a great job. I would have hammered the lack of investigation by the deputies. Did they search for the spent cartridges in the road that night? Did they inventory the defendents truck, why not? Did they find a gun cleaning kit in the truck? Did they ask to search the cabin for a gun cleaning kit as they had already formed the opinion that the boys cleaned the rifle? Did they look for dirty cleaning patches? They could have smelled for the cleaning solvent in the cabin, in the truck? Have a novice, as the defendents were, clean the rifle completely in the court room for a time reference. I would have requested the judge allow the ex-game warden to be blind folded and see how well his judgement of direction and distance in the outdoors actually was. Lots more nit pickin questions could have been ask. Put the ex-game warden and deputies on trial for not doing their job.
