 As Mr. Burns fights for life at the hospital , the Springfield police are working to find his assailant . Smithers wakes up the next morning and vaguely remembers shooting someone the night before in a drunken rage . Guilt @-@ ridden , Smithers heads for a local church , and is promptly arrested when the confessional turns out to be a police sting . While passing the media in his way to the police station , Smithers makes a witty remark that Sideshow Mel recognizes from an episode of Pardon My Zinger that aired at the same time as the shooting . Mel realizes that Smithers must have watched it as well , giving him an alibi . As Smithers ' memory clears , it turns out that he had actually shot Jasper in his wooden leg . 
