Not to defend the pedophile rapist, because I’m not, but the self defense part of this has a lot more nuance than most people know. I encourage you to look it up for yourself but she essentially tracked this guy down on purpose and shot him.
Was it justifiable? I think yes. Was it Self Defense? Arguably not. It was 99% Revenege.
I would compare this to Lorena Bobbitt. You have a point in that this girl tracked him down, but arguably he presented an ongoing threat as long as he was free—especially if he knew she was the reason he got busted. But she also probably relived the abuse constantly in her head. Years and years of abuse redefines who you are as a person.
Self defense might be a stretch, but were I on that jury she’d never see the inside of a cell.
arguably he presented an ongoing threat as long as he was free
Nahhh man. That’s like instead of a filing a restraining order for your abuser you just go out and kill them. Ultimately the cops should’ve had him locked up with no bail but their incompetence created this situation.
That being said we as a society can’t just move to mob justice when the system fails. She should get a mix of jail time and counciling. You don’t get to kill someone just because they abused you. That’s revenge not justice
I think the issue here is there is the rule book and then there is the reality we all live in. Like when you tell an adult as a kid you’re being picked on at school and they say “just tell the teacher”.
Sometimes the situation doesn’t work out in your favor when you play by the rules.
It could be argued that this person feared for her life because the man that was abusing her was caught and now free and he blames her. If he is intent on finding a way to murder her, a restraining order won’t stop him. So in her mind it’s either play by the rules and allow for the potential of having this man murder her at any moment, living with this thought every day of her life or take care of this problem herself and deal with the consequences which is spend time in prison alive or live in fear of death.
I honestly sympathize and understand where this might be less revenge and more pre meditated self preservation.
I disagree. I think the reality inside that girl’s head is a lot more threatening than the one you see from outside the situation, and that needs to be taken into account. But it’s a subject I’m too close to so I’m going to stop it here. Good conversation. You make some good points. But there’s no argument that will ever make me agree with you so let’s leave it here.
