An Antwerp man admitted Monday in Jefferson County Court that he accidentally shot and killed a hunting partner in October in the town of Pamelia.

Terry J. Hofferberth, 44, formerly of Alexandria Bay, pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide, admitting that he was hunting at dusk Oct. 18 when he fatally shot Clayton E. Typhair, 56, in a wooded area off Bradley Street Road.

Mr. Hofferberth told Judge Walter W. Hafner, "I shouldn't have pulled that trigger that night." He said it was getting dark and "I shouldn't have been out there" when he took a shot at "what I thought was a deer."

"I accidentally took another man's life; my brother's best friend and a dear friend of myself," he said.

With the plea, a trespassing charge and two state Department of Environmental Conservation citations for hunting after hours and hunting with a shotgun during early muzzleloading season were merged and dismissed.

He faces a maximum sentence of 11/3 to 4 years in state prison at sentencing April 25.

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