The woman who murdered the villain on trial for raping her 7-year-old boy has died. She shouldn't have done what she did. But God forgive me, I'm not sorry she did it.
Ellie Nesler, RIP
Tuesday December 30, 2008
Categories: Culture
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Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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I read the linked article - looks like a whole mess of folks there who weren't guided by rational self interest.
"Villain"? "didn't deserve much better"?
Thanks to this half-baked vigilante harridan we're in no position to say any such thing, are we?
Still, don't "be sorry", Rod. Who needs justice when you've got (misplaced? who cares?) vengeance?
Toro, from what little I know about the case, the evidence was pretty strong that the victim was a serial child rapist. I think the rest of my comment makes clear that I don't condone Nesler's disregard for the rule of law or the sancity of all human life, but I feel worse about the collateral damage of her act than I do for her victim. But I generally agree with you about the case, and agree that Ellie Nesler, may she rest in peace, wasn't remotely admirable.
The LA Times article makes references to the molestation having happened at a "Christian camp" where the perp was a counselor, and that the perp received leniency in an earlier molestation case because members of his church wrote letters to the judge vouching for his character.
Interesting that the article doesn't name the church or the denomination, however. I guess that means it wasn't Catholic. If the molestation or molester had any connection to the Catholic church, can you imagine the LA Times omitting that fact?
For all of you who have sympathy for Willie Nesler despite his crime, remember that there's a very good chance that Nesler's victimizer was also abused as a kid. That doesn't excuse the crime. He may very well belong in prison. But if you are willing to humanize a murderer because you know his past, consider showing the same sympathy for the person whose past isn't the subject of a newspaper article.
This case is an example of the sometimes non-existent line between victim and offender. I see way too many cases where defendants started out as victims. As victims, they don't get the help they need, so they lash out in stupid, dangerous ways. And yes, they sometimes become the person who victimized them.
The next time you hear someone complain that a murder defendant is "blaming a bad childhood" for his crime, remember Willie Nesler.
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