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Johnny Dollar editor@fgazette.com
Carson McKoin faces sentencing Dec.2; jury acquitted him on a separate firearm count
MONROE- A federal jury convicted Carson McKoin, 23, of Monroe, of assaulting, resisting or impeding federal wildlife agents after he fired a shotgun toward an approaching patrol boat during a duck hunt at the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge.
The jury returned its verdict Aug. 26 following a three-day trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty in Monroe. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana announced the conviction Friday.
THE ENCOUNTER
The encounter occurred Jan. 19, 2024, while McKoin was hunting with a group of young men at a duck hole on the refuge, according to evidence summarized by federal prosecutors.
McKoin’s group believed other hunters were encroaching on the duck hole they had claimed for the day. When McKoin heard a boat approaching, he fired a shot in its direction, believing the occupants were other hunters. The approaching men were federal wildlife officers Kurt Hatten and John Harrell, who were patrolling the refuge in their official capacities.