For the third time, a Topeka man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in a 1998 hunting accident that killed a 16-year-old girl in rural Douglas County.

Joseph Beier, 24, was summoned to appear at 3 p.m. April 8 in Douglas County District Court to face the charge he recklessly killed Misty Taylor of Topeka on Nov. 24, 1998.

Beier was first charged with involuntary manslaughter soon after the shooting. A second man, Donald Koch, then 22, Topeka, was convicted in August 1999 of involuntary manslaughter for his part in the accident. He was sentenced to three years of probation.

According to court testimony, Taylor was with Koch and Beier while they illegally hunted deer at night with a spotlight near Lecompton. Koch testified he was holding Beier’s rifle and crawling into the back of a pickup truck when the gun accidentally discharged. Taylor was struck in the back of the head as she sat inside the truck.

That involuntary manslaughter charge against Beier alleged he was liable in the incident.

But the charge against Beier was dropped by the district attorney in August 1999 and later refiled. In April 2000, Douglas County District Judge Jack Murphy ruled that Beier’s 180-day right to a speedy trial was violated, and the charge was dismissed.

The Kansas Court of Appeals later upheld Murphy’s ruling. But the court’s ruling left open the possibility that the involuntary manslaughter charge could be refiled alleging that Beier acted recklessly in Taylor’s death. The latest charge states that allegation.

Beier’s attorney, Jonathan Phelps, Topeka, expressed surprise at the new charge. He said Beier shouldn’t be charged just because he was present.

“The facts don’t support the charge,” Phelps said. “It’s a waste of a lot of time, money, and it causes a lot of grief.”

Dist. Atty. Christine Kenney disagreed.

“Any time you have a life taken, you can’t consider that (prosecution) a waste of time, money or resources,” she said.