A Wyoming college student who unintentionally killed his friend while duck hunting has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, but he has a chance to receive a sentence that could give him probation and keep him from being a convicted felon.
Gaige Zook, 20, gave his guilty plea Thursday in Goshen County District Court. He also gave a confession of his involvement in the Jan. 20, 2024, gunshot death of his friend Maurizio Dadin, 19, his court file indicates.
The two men and a third friend were hunting in a duck blind off the shore of the North Platte River that day.
Zook’s shotgun misfired, and when Zook later grabbed it to inspect it, it fired and hit Dadin, killing him, court documents say.
Goshen County District Court Judge Edward Buchanan set Zook’s sentencing hearing for April 9.
Involuntary manslaughter is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, plus fines. But Zook’s plea agreement asks Buchanan to consider sentencing Zook under a 301 deferral. That’s a system in Wyoming law by which a person who has never been convicted of a felony before can have a case “deferred.”
People sentenced under this provision will complete a term of probation; and if they’re successful with probation, no felony conviction is entered against them at the end of it.
The case prosecutor, Goshen County Attorney Eric Boyer, confirmed Monday that he’s extended a plea agreement to Zook offering the deferral. That agreement also contains a provision that would let Zook withdraw his guilty plea and court confession if Buchanan doesn’t let him have the deferral.
Judges in Wyoming do not always accept plea agreements. Some plea agreements say that the guilty plea stands whether the judge accepts the recommended sentence; others say the defendant can withdraw it.
The agreement contains another provision that would let Zook appeal, if he chooses, an earlier decision Buchanan made rejecting Zook’s argument that his conduct the day of the hunt was not reckless.
Boyer argued ahead of that decision that Zook’s conduct was reckless, and therefore fell under the state’s involuntary manslaughter statute.
Zook’s attorney Jason Tangeman had argued, conversely, that the shooting was a horrific, split-second accident and not the result of reckless conduct.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
