State v. Bauer

¶1 TC, a child, took a loaded gun from the home where his mother lived with her boyfriend, Douglas Bauer. The gun belonged to Bauer.1 TC brought that loaded gun to school in his backpack a few days after he stole it. The gun discharged as TC was rummaging in his pack at the end of the day. The bullet struck TC’s classmate, and it seriously injured her.

¶2 The State charged Bauer with assault in the third degree, alleging that he, “[w]ith criminal negligence, cause [d] bodily harm to another person by means of a weapon or other instrument or thing likely to produce bodily harm.” RCW…