An unnecessary death.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Todd Alan Hughes would be alive today if only James Michael Winkelman had walked away.

That's the curse. That's the lesson.

Winkelman was only trying to help, had only the best intentions and never meant for it to go so wrong. But that's no comfort to Hughes' grieving family and many friends.

Hughes is dead, shot three times in his own yard. But how was Winkelman to know that the handgun Hughes pointed at him was unloaded? That the woman Winkelman thought Hughes had tried to rape was his fiance, Janet Bilbrey? That Hughes was drunk, and though he assaulted Bilbrey and she screamed, she got away?

Of course, he couldn't know. That's the curse. That's the lesson.

A grand jury chose not to indict Winkelman, who was understandably relieved. But Hughes' sister, Sarah Harrington, was not relieved at all. "Justice was not served," Harrington said. "The only thing worse than telling my father that his son was murdered is having to tell him the murderer went free." No doubt Winkelman understands her anger, because he knows Hughes would be alive today if he had walked away.

"Without a doubt," District Attorney Doug Harcleroad said, "it would have been better had he walked away."

The law is on Winkelman's side. He had a permit to carry his 9 mm Smith & Wesson. He stayed at the shooting scene and cooperated fully with the police investigation. He was only trying to help.

But his good intentions were no match for his inexperience and the irrevocable finality Winkelman's Smith & Wesson brought to the volatile situation. Once Winkelman decided to draw his weapon, the die was cast.

This wasn't an intruder invading a home. It wasn't an assault in progress, or a robbery, or the kind of active threat that demanded the immediate intervention of an armed citizen. It was, on the contrary, a situation that should have been left to the police.

That's the curse. That's the lesson.