We can only imagine the shock people around the area felt when the news of the Brian Gilbert plea deal broke.

Gilbert, for those who don’t know, is the man who was accused of shooting Doug Bartlett, of Whitingham, in a horrible hunting accident, and then leaving him to die.

Outrage, disbelief, grief, or anger are all probably too timid words to describe the emotions felt when the deal was announced. But the question that most were left with was probably a variation of the same: How could a man who leaves a wounded man to die after what all agree was a tragic accident get off with such a relatively light sentence?

We can only conclude the case for the state must not have been strong. After all, in January the this year the judge in the case had thrown out the state’s attempt to prosecute Gilbert on second-degree murder charges. The best the state could hope for was criminal negligence. In the end, the best the state felt it could get was involuntary manslaughter, and so Gilbert does a year in jail, a few years probation, and a few weeks of community service. We’ve heard of DUI convictions almost as severe.

We’re not out to try Brian Gilbert in the court of public opinion. He will forever carry the burden of those fateful days in 2005, regardless of how the legal system dealt with those actions.

Also, there’s no guarantee a jury trial would have rendered a different outcome, and Gilbert could have been found not guilty and walked on all charges. That’s the risk of a trial.

But we, like many, are left with an empty feeling about the entire process. If the trial had proceeded, regardless of the outcome, at the very least justice would have run its course.

Closure is always difficult, and somehow we can’t help wondering if there will ever truly be closure for the Bartlett family or the larger community. Certainly the trial of Gilbert, or lack thereof, did not offer any closure. Perhaps time will salve what the legal system could not.