Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Moral dilemma?

The story, FBI Imposter Shoots, Kills Two Sex Offenders, was the inspiration behind today's Quick Poll at LarsLarson.com. (left side) The conversation prompted some interesting phone calls and a discussion at my workplace.

On the quick poll I chose the "No. Performed a public service" answer. This means that if you told me right now that you knew who the killer was I would not inform the police of that information.

Let me go a step further. If the killer was caught and I was on the jury then I would not be able to find him guilty. Not because I believe in vigilante justice, not because of the defendants skin color, and not because he had a rough childhood so it's not his fault. I would find the defendant not guilty within the law. Let me explain:

We, as Americans and individuals, have an obligation to protect ourselves, families, and innocent life. This obligation comes from God but our laws recognize this need as well and provide for justified killing in self-defense or the defense of others.

Government can't and does not protect the individual. It isn't even their mandate. Government is to provide for public safety. If someone breaks into your house with the intent to kill you, unless you are armed and prepared to defend yourself, then he will kill you. Government's job is to then respond by locking him up to protect the general public.

Rarely do the police prevent crimes, they simply respond to and solve crimes. This is one of the main reasons for the second amendment.

Now, we have a government that refuses to even provide for the general public safety. The legislature refused to pass Jessica's Law that would have provided for increased jail time for sexual predators who victimize children under the age of 12.

So sexual predators are released into society even though there is a HUGE probability that they will offend again. At this point your family's safety is jeopardized. There is a threat. But just like with any threat you must decide what the threat level is and what the proper response is.

For some, it may mean extra vigilance. For others, they may post pictures and warnings. This man chose to neutralize the threat by killing the predators.

You may argue that the threat was not immediate or readily apparent but that is in the eye of the beholder. Those of you who would judge this man must remember that certain elements of the community think that a crack-addict who is high and behind the wheel does not constitute a threat worthy of neutralizing.

I'm betting that the father of the Florida girl, Jessica, wishes that someone had taken steps to neutralize the threat posed by the sexual predator who abused and murdered his daughter. Everyone recognized the danger but the government chose not to provide for the public safety and no private citizen provided for individual safety.

These predators are ticking time bombs, I understand why someone would choose to defuse them. In this case we will never know how many, if any, kid's innocence and their very lives were spared by the actions of this man.

Note: I am not endorsing murder or saying that all sex offenders should be killed. I am not encouraging anyone to commit any crime. The above post is simply an intellectual exercise in which I explained how I would come to a not guilty verdict in the case of a man shooting two sexual predators to death.

34 comments:

Scott said...

Daniel I agree 100%
I would have a real problem Convicting this guy. Being a single dad with two kids.

Gunslinger said...

I would certainly not turn him in, and I would probably buy him a beer for his trouble. I would however, have a hard time not coming to a guilty decision. The law is the law, and he did in fact murder two people. People being a losely used term here. It would be really hard for me. I can see both sides of the jury vote here. While I can not fault a guy for this, I have to ask, if we allow this kind of vigilante justice, where does it stop. IT is an extreme example, but sooner or later, if allowed, you would have vigilantes blowing away people for Jaywalking.

While I agree with an eye for an eye, I also believe that evil begets evil. A sin is a sin, and the fact remains, even if we feel that this person did everyone a favor by nuetralizing this threat, he is still guilty of murder. Premeditated at that.

A side note, did you happen to catch the 80 year old grandmother call in from the Dalles, who said she would not only not turn him in, she would give him the names and addresses of other offenders to get rid of. Comedy gold, you gotta love the little old cookie baking grandmother who is all about killing people.

Daniel said...

I did catch granny calling in. That was good. Unfortunately once you do that you become an accessory...

And this may be murder or it may be a justified defense killing. If the defendent felt that his life or the lives of others were in danger then I could find that he acted within the law.

That defense is heavily open to interpretation, some people felt that Scott McCollister was guilty of cold-blooded murder. I don't. He was simply defending his life and the lives of others.

While I realize that we can't have vigilantes out killing people everywhere we also can't have sexual predators who are almost guaranteed to victimize children again running loose until another kid gets killed.

Ask Gov. Teddy why he won't call a special session to pass Jessica's Law.
Contact

Donnie Herneisen said...

Tough call gang. I think I have to jump in the boat with Gunslinger here. While we are aware of the high probablity of repeated offenses by sex offenders, you can't kill them (or whatever) before they commit the crime. Analogy: we know that the majority of meth users commit crimes to finance their addiction to the drug. Do we lock them up, kill them, etc, before they commit the crime? (Granted, using meth is a crime, but you get my point)

Sounds like the movie "Minority Report" to me.

All that being said, I think I would vote to convict this guy, but try like hell to get him the minimum sentence, or "time already served". Something like that. However, does that "encourage" more vigilante-ism (sp?)? I think so, and therein lay the conundrum.

Ric said...

As much as I hate situation ethics ... I would have to say it depends.

One of the things I find troubling, and this applies to many different laws too, is that the label gets applied too broadly.

What exactly is a 'sex offender'?

If you are taking a whiz in the bush ( say while camping ) and some child catches you, should you then be labeled a 'sex offender' ?

If the person has done something we can agree on is a 'sex offense' - say sodomy of a minor - then I belive we need to have some creative solutions.

First, castration. Then counseling, while incarcerated.

Daniel said...

For any of you who watched the local news on FOX 12 tonight, I rest my case.

Gunslinger said...

Damn, I was out drinking and smoking cigars. What was on fox news?

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