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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...

In her heart, Ellie Nesler loved her children, friends say, even when that love caused her enormous trouble and pain. Nesler, who died Friday, gained international notoriety in 1993 when she took a .25 caliber pistol into a Tuolumne County courtroom and put five bullets in the head and body of a man accused of molesting her son. She served 3 1/2 years as her case wended through trial and appeal before pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 1997, a plea bargain that released her back to her son and daughter. But her story did not end there. Nesler spent...

FRESNO, Calif. — 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. 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...

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. Nesler shot Daniel Driver five times in the head during a break in his preliminary hearing in a Tuolumne (too-WAH'-lum-ee) County courtroom. Driver had been accused of molesting four boys, including her son Willy.

TUOLUMNE COUNTY, Calif. -- Authorities in Tuolumne County say the 22-year-old son of the so-called "vigilante mother" has turned himself in to authorities. He was wanted in connection with the death of a man on July 25. Investigators say that on July 25, about an hour after William Nesler III finished completing a 30-day sentence for beating a man, he attacked the same man again. David Davis, 45, later died from his injuries suffered in the attack. Nesler is the son of Ellie Nesler. She was convicted of manslaughter in the courtroom shooting of Daniel Driver in 1993. Driver had...

Courtroom shooter sentenced on meth charges SONORA -- In a brief hearing that featured none of the theatrics that gained her fame, Ellie Nesler was sentenced Monday to six years in state prison for furnishing methamphetamine and possession with intent to manufacture the drug. Nesler, whose stunning 1993 courtroom shooting of a man accused of molesting her son made her the subject of a made-for-television movie, did not speak during her sentencing hearing in Tuolumne County Superior Court. Instead, Nesler -- who pleaded guilty last month but maintained her innocence -- sat quietly in black-and-white striped jail garb, turning around...