80-year-old pleads not guilty in ‘terrible accident’ while hunting in Northern CA
An 80-year-old man accused of killing another man while turkey hunting in a Sutter County wildlife reserve had his $1 million bail and the murder charge he was arrested on reduced as he awaits a bond hearing next week.
John Lee of Sacramento appeared Wednesday in Sutter Superior Court in Yuba City via video call and pleaded not guilty to felony counts of voluntary manslaughter and grossly negligent discharge of a firearm, stemming from a gunshot he allegedly fired while turkey hunting Sunday morning.
Lee was booked into Sutter County Jail and held on $1 million bail for second-degree murder, which prosecutors reduced to voluntary manslaughter in charges filed Wednesday.
Sutter Superior Judge Fritzgerald A. Javellana lowered Lee’s bail to $100,000, per the reduced charge, and set a bail review hearing for Monday at the request of Lee’s defense attorney, Noah Phillips.
“I would like to respect the Sutter County District Attorney’s Office for their decision not to file a murder charge in this case,” Phillips said in an interview. “They made the correct decision ... after re-interviewing my client, they concluded that this was not an intentional act.”
Phillips is seeking to lower the bail to $50,000 on Monday, citing the circumstances of the case.
Lee was turkey hunting with a family member Sunday near Fremont Weir Wildlife Area not far from Knights Landing when, according to authorities, he “fired his shotgun into the brush, hoping to shoot a turkey, though unaware of what he was aiming at.”
The gunfire struck Shawn Parrish, 65, in the back of the head. Deputies responded and, after attempting life-saving measures, pronounced Parrish dead at the scene.
Lee, a longtime California resident and U.S. citizen, immigrated after fighting alongside the U.S. in Laos during the Vietnam War, Phillips said.
“He was an avid hunter and fisherman for the last 40 years,” Phillips said. “On the date in question, there was a terrible accident.”
“Immediately after that terrible accident,” he added, Lee tried giving aid to Parrish and ran to the road, directing responders to where Parrish was.
“Mr. Lee has been hunting in that area many, many, many times,” Phillips said. “On the date in question, he looked through his scope, he thought he saw, or he observed, a turkey. He relooked through his sights and fired, and unfortunately there was a tragic outcome.”
Future court dates are expected to be decided at the bail review Monday.
This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 6:47 PM.