Mark Bennett at Defending People posts about one of those horrible, untenable situations that make up a parents’, and criminal defense lawyers’, worst nightmare. The Star-Telegram story is here.
[A] 32-year-old Arlington, Texas man who believed that his 18-year-old stepson had anally raped the man’s 8-year-old daughter. After the man’s wife (the stepson’s mother) made bail on her son’s aggravated sexual assault charge despite the man’s warning that he would hurt the lad, the man picked his stepson up from jail and then allegedly drove to an abandoned house in Fort Worth, beat his stepson with a baseball bat, and sodomized him with a metal tool.
Acknowledging the horror of the situation, Mark is able to detach himself from the reaction that comes naturally and state that the father’s retaliation was wrong. Indeed, Mark is correct. But I have some myself feeling particularly sympathetic to the man’s need to deal with the anal rape of his daughter.
Mark notes that he hopes the man got the right guy, though according to the new story, he caught his stepson in the act, which pretty much does away with that concern. As much as I can appreciate, from an intellectual standpoint, who retaliation is wrong and why we leave it to our legal system to address crime, I can’t imagine any father of an 8 year old who wouldn’t do the same. Or worse.
Of course people shouldn’t take the law into their own hands. But if ever there was a case where it was understandable, this is it. And this is why I don’t represent sex offenders.
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It is not understandable, nor is it excusable or justified. It is stupid, selfish and quite, quite depraved.
(Morally, not legally.)
I reserve the right to be understanding about anything I want.
Okay then 🙂
You wrote ” I can’t imagine any father of an eight year old who wouldn’t do the same” Right, Scott. I can so picture you beating your stepson with a bat and then anally raping him with a wrench. The father of that poor girl and that depraved boy is a total wack with a serious history of violence. Don’t legitimize his behavior by suggesting that a normative value for upset fathers includes beating and raping thier children.You would never and could never behave like that. And face it, you don’t represent defendants like that because they turn your stomach… fair enough.
So it’s highly unlikely that I would have done the same. But to call the father a total whack is unfair as well. Come on, Dan, he watched this happen to his daughter. And this, by the way, is why we don’t let the father’s decide punishment. So I probably wouldn’t do it (and thank God that I’ve never been tested), I still can understand what went through his mind.
As you well know, and as I’ve never suggested otherwise.
Well, I said the father was “wack”
See, http://www.rapdict.org/Wack and http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wack … as in, ‘crack is wack’. Which he is… But I guess,as you said, the father was also “a whack” (as in http://www.whackyourboss.com)(though you might have dubbed him “a whacker”), in as much as that was his m.o. in dealing with his stepson’s behavior. But its not like he stood by and watched his stepson… the article said he “caught his stepson…” Anyway, its nice to hear you don’t actually view yourself as a whack(er).
The rocks in his head must fit the holes in hers. He must have told her he saw it happen and that he’s prepared to hurt the guy. So she bails the perp [a term I normally do not use as it is a favorite of the twitchier ADAs]. I hope I remember this one next time I think I have marriage problems.
What tool did he use? Maybe it was the business end of a hammer. And — the defense should keep this out! — how long did it take him to decide?
Anyway, Mark is right, his sentencing exposure would be much less if he had used him for target practice instead of assaulting him.
Forgive my lack of fluency in hip hop. Wasn’t it Nancy Reagan who coined the phrase, “crack is wack?”
A metal pipe.
What a wuss.
Was there ever a follow-up story? What happened to the father?
Hey Bennett, this question’s for you. Anything?