[Texas] Father not charged with murder of man he found molesting his child

Can't blame the father too much. Technically, in my opinion, if the force exceeded the amount required to stop the crime from happening, it is still a crime, but I would excuse it with the mental state the father must have been in. No punishment.

 

If anyone touches my kids in a way they shouldn't...they would die as well...good job dad!

 

I would have killed the pos too.

 

The father is a hero, he has made the world a better place.

DD

 

Sounds like it should be about right
Touch a man's kid. . you deserve to get your ass handed to you
if you die . .. you die.

Rocket River
Only thing worse than a pedophile is a child killer

 

Deadly force is legal in Texas to stop any rape. When it is a minor and your own child even more so.

 

Yes, to STOP the rape. But if the rape is stopped and the criminal already subdued, it's obviously no longer legal. Again, not blaming the father - at all. I would have probably done the same thing.

 

Doesn't look like there is any D&D so far.

 

Damn, that's messed up, the molestation. I'm happy the jury didn't charge the guy.

On a side note: probably the first time I saw a choice of links and actually wanted to click 'dailymail.co.uk'

 

I remember this case when it happened, glad to see it brought up again with closure. Interesting outcome, can't imagine somebody arguing against it. His presence is going to be so important in the entire family's healing process, rather than him being locked up

 

Killing him is probably more force than necessary to stop the rape, but there's some imprecision involved in applying force, and I think there is some implicit 'crime of passion' mitigation involved here too. I think that he tried to get him medical care afterward seals the deal. I don't even have to ask about the races of the people involved.

But, I don't think you'd get a significantly different outcome elsewhere. Even in hippy-dippy states, people will give a lot of lattitude to others protecting their 5 year olds from rape.

 

What other states would give the name of the father if that would lead someone to discovering the identity of an underage sexual assualt victim. I never knew this was unique to Texas.

 

Good. No question this never would have been seen as a homicide. Manslaughter? Maybe, but I don't think anyone would have liked that outcome. The guy got what he deserved.

 

I'm trying to figure out what states wouldn't do the same thing...



(Texas is great, rawr...)

 

Very reasonable outcome.

The father, not being a professional combatant most likely had little idea of exactly how much force would be necessary to "incapacitate" the attacker and render his child safe.

In his mind, he's applying force until he's "sure" that his daughter is safe.

Then he further showed his true intent by trying to save the man's life.

Common sense ruling. This man is neither guilty of murder or manslaughter in my view. He didn't kill due to negligence, he killed in the act of performing what he thought was a necessary level of force to preserve the safety of his daughter. That it was beyond the technical level required is irrelevant.

As I said, you can't expect a non professional combatant to know the exact amount of force to apply.

 

Good. Guy got what he deserved

 

Probably a lot of adrenalin flowing through his veins. There was a women who picked a car because her kid was stuck under there.

 

I'd have done the same thing. Touch a man's kids and all bets are off. Interesting that so far everyone is on the same page. I like it when we can all agree.

Of course, someone will probably stroll along in a bit to argue the outcome and screw up the thread harmony...

 

Texas is exceptional in the use of deadly force but my understanding is that pretty much all states allow for the use of deadly force in defense of someone else life. A rape of a minor by an adult would likely fall under a reasonable standard of a threat to life.

The trickier part of this assessing whether the force used was proportionate or whether it continued beyond the threat. Without more evidence there really isn't anything to weigh in on that. As you say not knowing if they guy had any training we have no idea how much of a threat or control he can exert over his use of force. Further we have no information about the rapist. For example what if he had a heart condition and in the course of fighting off the dad he had a heart attack?

I am generally not for A Time to Kill view of justice but I don't see anything here that would make me say the father's actions weren't perfectly in line with the law.