Man found guilty in death of Vermont professor, fatally shot as he was sitting down to eat

Guilty verdict in death of Vermont professor

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A jury has found a Vermont man guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the stray-bullet death of a St. Michael’s College professor who was killed as he was sitting down to dinner.

Forty-year-old Joseph McCarthy of Essex was convicted Friday in the Sept. 23, 2008, death of neighbor John Reiss. Reiss was sitting down to eat dinner in his suburban Essex home when a rifle bullet tore through a window and hit him in the chest, killing him on the spot.

Police never determined who in a group of men firing weapons on a backyard range fired the fatal bullet. Prosecutors said McCarthy was reckless in setting up the range and should be held liable.