Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Saturday, June 16, 2012

If the evidence supports the claim

then I for one would have a hard time either sending this case to trial or convicting a father who found someone molesting his five-year-old daughter. Normally I would say there is a line between stopping him from doing so, and beating him to death. But I can see someone easily crossing that line with a child at risk, without really considering how deadly their punches were in the heat of the moment. Granted, that is also why we have manslaughter vs. murder charges. I suppose we'll see how the justice system will deal with the case. But I wouldn't want to be on the grand jury or any other jury on this one.

A few years ago, when I was on a jury (thankfully, a civil case), I was asked about cases I did not feel I could serve on. I said that one was a death penalty case, and the other would be any case involving the sexual abuse of a child. I did a very good job of sticking to the facts and letting no emotion in the case I served on (as opposed to several other jurors; thankfully on a civil case you just have to get 9 our of 12, because I was the one sticking, of all things, to logic and facts, whereas others were bringing up similar situations (in their minds) that family had gone through, etc.) But in the sort of cases mentioned above, I don't know if I could keep my emotions in check. Hopefully it won't come up again.

Small Texas community stands by man who killed daughter's alleged abuser

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