BATON ROUGE - A judge dismissed on Monday the case of a man who was accused in a 2023 hunting death after he allegedly shot and killed a hunter he mistook for a deer. 

Thomas Franklin, 56, was arrested after 34-year-old Jacob Altazan was shot and killed during a Christmas weekend hunting trip. Franklin told police he mistook Altazan for a deer.

In July, a grand jury declined—or pretermitted—to charge him for negligent homicide. With the judge's decision to dismiss the case, the case is officially closed.