Jim’s Rant For The Day – More On Vomiting.

Forty years ago I read a national newspaper article about a state prosecutor dropping all charges against two men strangely associated with a crime. One man allegedly raped a thirteen year old girl. He was in jail awaiting trial. A week after the rape the girl’s father somehow visited the man in jail and was put in a visitation cell with him.

The father had smuggled a gun in and shot the suspect three times. He was left blind and without the use of his legs, wheel chair bound. The prosecutor shocked the county when he dropped all charges against both men. He even managed to get signed releases from both men from future civil action against the father, the suspect and the county sheriff.

The prosecutor’s reasoning was that it provided the best outcome because he could never get a conviction against either man. Also in the process of trails the girl would have to suffer testimony reliving the nightmare at least two more times. The father could not be convicted due to temporary insanity. The suspect might escape a jury guilt verdict out of sympathy because the Sheriff failed to protect him.

But here’s the kicker. If convicted the suspect would be a ward of the state. Instead he was released and rolled and dumped on the curb blind and unable to walk for life.

That was forty years ago. Thirty years ago a similar situation occurred in Pensacola Florida where I live. A man sold dope to a sixteen year old girl who overdosed but survived. Dad found out the drug seller’s age, around 35 as I recall, name and home address. Dad knocked on his door that evening. When “Yes” was the answer to “Are you George?”, Dad cut him in half with a double barreled shotgun. The prosecutor dropped the murder charge against Dad for the same reasons.

I hope you see where this is leading to. A lot of horrible murders may be committed that prosecutors will probably not be prosecute. The precedent to not prosecute will be history.

Picture of Benito Mussolini, the dictator of Italy, and his wife, towards the end of WWII.