GROTON, Vt. — A Groton man who accidentally shot and killed a hunter last fall will serve jail time as an example to other hunters, a district court judge has ruled.

Judge Dean Pineles sentenced James O. Crowley to 30 days of a one to five-year suspended sentence as a caution to hunters.

The sentencing in Caledonia District Court came despite tearful pleas by Crowley’s family that Crowley, 50, should not be singled out as an example. They said jail time would not change the present hunting laws and would not bring Jeffrey Carl Maurais, 21, back to life.

Earlier this year Crowley pleaded no contest to manslaughter, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years, a $3,000 fine or both.

He was charged with the offense in December 1989, nearly a month after Maurais was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head while he sat in a hunting ground stand in Groton State Forest. Crowley, who thought he shot at a small animal, discovered Maurais’ body in the stand and reported the death to police.

Police later matched the spent casing recovered at the scene and other bullet fragments to Crowley’s rifle through ballistics tests.

Crowley’s attorney, P. Scott McGee of Norwich, who presented three witnesses at the sentencing, told Pineles that other people charged in hunting accidents received probationary sentences.

“To incarcerate our father would serve no purpose,” Michelle Crowley said. “It won’t ease the pain and anguish both families are feeling. It won’t bring Jeff back.

“My dad is punishing himself in a way no court can,” she said. “My father has only sadness in his heart for what has happened and he hopes someday the Maurais family can find forgiveness in theirs.”

Maurais’ father said that forgiveness will not come soon. “The colors my son had on were hunting clothes. As far as I’m concerned I still think it’s gross negligence.”

Pineles, who rejected a plea agreement in the case earlier this year, also ordered Crowley to abide by special conditions of release, including that he pay counseling costs for Maurais’ immediate family, including a cousin and fiance, for the next two years, and that he not possess a hunting license.