ST. JOHNS — Jurors on Tuesday heard vastly different theories about the killing of a Lansing hunter on public land in Bath Township more than five years ago as the murder trial for a Grand Blanc Township man got underway in a St. Johns courtroom.
Thomas Olson, 35, didn’t intend to kill Chong Mua Yang, 66, when he fired a shotgun, “probably” into the air, striking the Hmong-American man in the back of the head on the evening of Nov. 16, 2018 at Rose Lake State Game Area, Assistant State Attorney General Richard Cunningham said in his opening statement.
Cunningham suggested Olson was trying to scare Yang so he could make fun of the situation on social media. By firing the weapon, Olson knowingly created a high risk of death or great bodily harm, the attorney said.
“It was all a big joke,” Cunningham said. “He likes to make jokes about minorities…. He just wanted sport here, to be able to post on his social media how he scared the devil out of him.”
But defense attorney Michael Manley said the evidence will show Olson, who was hunting in the area that day, was “nowhere near” Yang when the older man was shot.