Man Is Sentenced for Shooting Officer

Norman Clinton Hale, 42, of McDonough, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Macon on March 22 after entering a plea of guilty on three counts.

Count One charged Mr. Hale with killing Christopher Upton, a U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer, with a Remington 700 .223 caliber bolt action rifle by discharging the firearm while illegally hunting on a federal reserve, the Ocmulgee Bluff Equestrian Trailhead in the Oconee National Forest in Jasper County.

Count three charged Mr. Hale with discharging a firearm in a developed recreation site, and count five charged him with tampering with a witness by misleading conduct.

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Following the sentencing hearing, the court sentenced Mr. Hale to 60 months imprisonment on counts one and five, and six months imprisonment on County three, all concurrent with each other, followed by three years supervised release, and a $225 mandatory assessment fee.In November 2011, Mr. Hale was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, hindering a federal investigation, and hunting violations.

On March 5, 2010, while hunting illegally Mr. Hale discharged his rifle striking Officer Upton in the face. At the sentencing hearing, the government offered expert evidence that had Mr. Hale taken appropriate action, such as calling for emergency services and applying pressure to Officer Upton’s wound, Officer Upton would have survived. Instead, Mr. Hale waited one hour and 32 minutes before calling 911 and offered to aid to Officer Upton.

In addition, Mr. Hale asked the other persons present to just leave and not report the incident. When they refused to do so, Mr. Hale suggested they get four wheelers and drive them to where Officer Upton was and tell the police that they found Officer Upton’s body in this condition.

In the initial report, in 2010, it was thought that Officer Hale died immediately, but subsequent investigation revealed that he likely would have lived if appropriate action had been taken.

However, “the standard procedure for a hunter is to identify your target and then shoot. The hunter failed to do this, and mistook the officer for game. He then shot and killed the officer,” said Officer Homer Bryson of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources when the incident occurred. Local authorities, along with U.S. Forest Service, the DNR and Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel investigated the shooting.

Based on the lack of care and assistance to Officer Upton, the government argued that the court should exercise its discretion and sentence Mr. Hale to a more severe term of imprisonment than that suggested by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The court agreed, and sentenced Mr. Hale to a term of imprisonment that was double the maximum amount of jail time calculated under the guidelines.

United States Attorney Michael Moore said, “This case involves an unimaginable tragedy. Had Mr. Hale shown even the slightest bit of care and concern for Officer Chris Upton, he would be alive today, and Mr. Hale would not be heading to federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael T. Solis.

Officer Upton is survived by a wife and a daughter.

Sentencing hearings have not been held yet for the three other men convicted of lesser offenses in this case.