Last week some gal up Heber City way killed her boyfriend to keep him from beating her to death.

Seems he had a habit of knocking her around and she'd grown tired of it. She finally decided that she'd rather be tried by twelve jurors than carried by six pallbearers. So she kicked the clown's bucket for him.

Because of the circumstances, she wasn't even indicted.

I was listening to a local talk show host comment on the incident. I won't mention his name because I want to feel free to ridicule his opinion and I kind of like the guy. Anyway, this radio host (let's call him Martin) commented about how incredible it was that this gal was able to commit this crime and get off completely free. I think he probably used the word impunity. He wondered if maybe she shouldn't be punished somehow.

Martin (let's call him) seemed to believe that in order for the system to be working there needed to be a crime then a punishment.

I cite the incident as a rare case where the system worked.

You see, there was a crime and there was a punishment. The boyfriend committed the intolerable crime of domestic violence and the girlfriend administered the just punishment.

Oh, you mean the girl should be punished for her "crime?"

If that's what you think, I can assure you she most certainly was. The only thing is, this gal did her penance before she committed the "crime."

Maybe ol' Martin (as we're calling him) would have been happier if the boyfriend had killed her then the system had dealt with it.

The way "the system" deals with it is that the cops may or may not have tracked down the boyfriend and he may or may not have done some time. In Martin's system some lawyers may or may not have bogged the system down for years.

If that's his idea of how the system's supposed to work he can have it.

We live in an amazing nation where the law provides a great measure of protection. But you are the party primarily responsible for looking out for yourself and your family. The role of the system is to support you in that endeavor.

In a perfect world the system would actively keep the bad guys from bothering you; in the real world that's impossible. So when you take out a bad guy in the course of defending yourself and your family, the role of the law is to get the hell out of your way.

I salute the fine lady from Heber City. If the force of law is not sufficient to protect my family, I'm going to find a force that is.

Home  |  Contact Us  | LoL Archive