Posted on 01/01/2009 3:51:58 AM PST by billorites
Ellie Nesler, who sparked a national debate about vigilantism after killing her son's accused molester in a courtroom in 1993, has died of cancer. She was 56.
Nesler died Friday morning at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, according to hospital spokeswoman Phyllis Brown. She had battled breast cancer since 1994.
"It's sad to see her go but she was really, really sick. She was very ill," said Rebecca Nesler, Ellie's daughter.
Rebecca is still recovering from two major events over the weekend: the birth of her son and the death of her controversial mother.
Nesler made headlines when she shot Daniel Driver five times in the head in a Tuolumne County courtroom during a break in his preliminary hearing for allegedly molesting four boys, including her then-6-year-old son William, at a Christian camp. Some hailed her for exacting her own justice, while others condemned her for taking the law into her own hands.
"She was a lot of people's hero," said Rebecca. "I just remember how much people would say, 'You're mom's my hero.' I had classmates, teachers all through grade school telling me how she was their hero."
Nesler was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, but her 10-year sentence was later overturned because of jury misconduct. She cut a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to manslaughter and get out after serving three years because she had breast cancer.
The case became a 1999 TV movie, "Judgment Day: The Ellie Nesler Story," on the USA cable network.
After the shooting, the Nesler family remained entangled in the legal system. In 2002, Nesler was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to selling and possessing methamphetamine. Outside of the courtroom, she maintained her innocence, saying she felt she couldn't get a fair trial in Tuolumne County.
Nesler was released from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla in 2006.
Meanwhile, her son got into legal troubles of his own and was convicted of first-degree murder in 2005 for stomping to death a man hired to clean the family's property in Sonora. The 23-year-old said he believed David Davis was letting people pick through the family's belongings.
William Nesler killed Davis less than an hour after he was released from a 30-day sentence for an earlier assault on him. He is serving a 25-year-to-life sentence at High Desert State Prison near Susanville.
"She had just such a heavy heart with my brother's situation," said Rebecca. "Honestly, the only regret I think is that she wasn't able to be there for me and my brother. That's the only regret I think she ever had."
Prison officials allowed William Nesler to speak with his mother on the phone when she was hospitalized, and he spoke to family members Christmas night about her condition, said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
"He knew she was very ill, and he knew her death was impending," Thornton said.
William Nesler has asked for a temporary leave to attend the funeral, and the request is being reviewed by prison officials, Thornton said.
Now society wants to let queers adopt for the purpose of child molesting. Ain’t we come a long way?
Actually, I’m suprised we haven’t seen more of this homemade justice rendered across the country. We certainly have enough grievous crime going on and p*ss poor judgements coming down from the bench - the people perish when there is no justice.
The one I like the best:
Coach kidnaps his student and flees to the west coast.
They find the pervert and bring him back I think to Tennessee.
As the Marshal is escorting the p.o.s. through the plane terminal a guy talking on a pay phone drops the phone turns and shoots the bastard through the head. Turns to the Marshal and drops his weapon.
Shooter was the kids father and I may be mistaken but I thin he got off.
All I know is If I were on a grand jury I would not vote to indict.
I saw a film clip of that one - the perp was smirking at the camera before justice came. I have no idea what happened to the vengeful father and I’ll bet he didn’t care at that point.
It took over ten years for O.J. to get his comeuppance, but I'm glad it was a jury and not an act of vigilantism that brought him down.
Was that back in the mid 80’s?
A man being returned to stand trial on charges of kidnapping a 12- year-old boy was shot in the head by the youth's father at the airport here tonight, the police said.
The suspect, Jeffery Paul Doucett, 25, was taken to Earl K. Long Hospital where he was being kept alive on life support systems.
The gunman, identified by the authorities as Gary Plauche, 39, was arrested and was being questioned.
''The man who pulled the trigger is the father of the kid who was kidnapped,'' said Ed Buggs of WBRZ-TV, who was reporting Mr. Doucett's return from California. Mr. Plauche's son, Jodie, was kidnapped here Feb. 19 and found unharmed when Mr. Doucett was arrested March 1 in Anaheim.
The reporter said an officer escorting Mr. Doucett asked the gunman, ''Gary, why did you do it?'' ''If it were your son, you would have done the same thing,'' Mr. Buggs quoted the man as saying."
(New York Times)
Mr. Plauche received 5 months probation after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
So you approve of citizens executing people who haven’t even been tried yet?
This woman was no hero. She should have gotten more time.
Yes. Better they wallow in foster homes and orphanages.
Yes,
I’m old
In some cases, trials are held, not to discover guilt, but to confirm it. In this case, yes, there was no doubt. I would do exactly the same.
Yes I believe there was a local t.v. news crew running when the two came off the plane and caught it all on tape.
I thought the guy got off.
A most reasonable sentence.
Here's a short (1 minute 33 seconds) snippet from CourtTV where they discussed the incident and show the footage shot (no pun intended) that day:
“In some cases, trials are held, not to discover guilt, but to confirm it. In this case, yes, there was no doubt. I would do exactly the same.”
I see. And I would have no problem sentencing you to life without parole.
Oh please.
That happened in Baton Rouge back in the 80s. Those Cajuns don’t fool around when it comes to protecting their kids.
I am not advocating this - only expressing suprise that more isn’t going on due to the fact that our system is failing to render sound judgement and fair justice. Do you question this?
Having said that, I will say that at some point - when a system totally fails or is non-existent - vigilantism is a valid and useful tool of social compacts. Our Western history is rife with this and the vast majority were good decisions by good people for the sake of survival. When government is bad, our system dictates that the people have the right to reform that system - somewhere on a continuum, that option still exists.
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