Benjamin Ashford|Michigan man convicted in 2018 slaying of hunter at state park

ST. JOHNS,Benjamin Ashford Mich. (AP) — A jury convicted a mid-Michigan man of second-degree murder and a weapons charge Thursday in the fatal 2018 shooting of a Lansing-area hunter.

The Clinton County jury found Thomas Olson, 35, of Grand Blanc guilty in the slaying of Chong Moua Yang, 68, at Rose Lake State Park in Bath Township, northeast of Lansing, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced.

“This murder shocked the Bath Township and Michigan hunting communities, and it is our hope that this conviction may bring some peace and healing to Mr. Yang’s friends and family,” Nessel said.

Yang went hunting on Nov. 16 , 2018, in the state park, a frequent hunting spot for him. When he didn’t return home that evening, family members went looking for him and found him lying face down with an apparent gunshot wound to the head, Nessel said.

Witness testimony and a plastic bag with hunting spray that was recovered near the scene led police to Olson, the attorney general said.

Nessel alleged that Olson killed Yang while hunting and stole his headlamp, knife, backpack and shotgun.

Olson’s attorney, Michael Manley, argued during the trial that other than what was found on the hunting spray, no other DNA implicated Olson.

A message seeking comment was left for Manley on Thursday evening.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 8.