Infamous 'Vigilante Mom' Dies of Cancer

[Adsos Letter]

Source: AP/ABC

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 justice, while others condemned her for taking the law into her own hands.

Nesler was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, but her 10-year sentence was later overturned because of jury misconduct. She cut a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to manslaughter and get out after serving three years because she had breast cancer.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=6542161

[tularetom]

1. A tragic situation - vengeance did not bring her closure

She spent the last 10 years of her life in and out of jail on drug charges, her son (the kid who was allegedly molested) is serving 25 to life for killing a guy sent out by the County to clean up some suspected meth labs on their property.

The retired sheriff is a friend of our family and he won't talk about this it pisses him off so bad.

[Adsos Letter]

2. I well remember the acrimonious debate around this case...

To many she was a hero, to many others an example of why you don't take the law into your own hands. KGO radio filled their talk shows with it for quite awhile.

[cabluedem]

11. She was a few bricks short of a load. nt

[HardWorkingDem]

3. Just curious....can you elaborate...

on the reason the sheriff is so angry?

[tularetom]

4. Like I said he refuses to talk about it

In fact I saw him a couple weeks before Christmas at a crab feed and I brought it up. He clammed up and changed the subject then cut the discussion off abruptly.

I think he is still pissed that she was allowed to plead to voluntary manslaughter when a conviction for at least 2nd degree murder would have been easy to get.

[Duer 157099]

5. Just a guess - it probably has to do with the guy the son killed

if he was sent by the county to clean up a meth lab, chances are the sheriff knew him (?)

[Abq_Sarah]

7. I remember the original shooting

But I had no idea about what happened later. Selling/cooking meth?

[sandnsea]

8. Remember Steven Staynor?

That situation didn't end well either. You just wonder whether it's the trauma, or whether neglected kids attract molestors and they would have all ended up a mess anyway. It is certainly tragic, all the way around.

[Ladyhawk]

10. Religion is a pedophile's biggest friend.

If religion didn't exist, there would still be pedophiles, but without religion, they would have a tougher time finding victims. I firmly believe that Protestant churches are just as filled with pedophile clerics as is the Catholic Church. The only difference is the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church, which eventually exposed the corruption. Protestant churches have no such hierarchy, so the pedophile preachers (deacons, etc.) are exposed one at a time.

After my experience being molested at a church, my family started going to a Foursquare Church. Guess what? The pastor (also a teacher at my Christian school) was a molester of little boys. One of my schoolmates killed himself as a result of the sexual abuse.

Reasons why religion is favorable to pedophiles:

1. It provides a convenient place to instantly become one of the family. The term "good Christian" is instantly applied to anyone who goes to church and becomes part of the group.

2. It provides direct access to children whose parents aren't familiar with questioning anything...otherwise, why would they believe that god had to kill himself, then raise himself from the dead to save humanity from rules he made up in the first place?

3. It provides direct access to children who are actively taught to obey, obey, obey, no matter what. If you've read the Steven Stayner story, you know that Kenneth Parnell lured Steven into his car by posing as a preacher. He targeted Steven because he knew Steven's parents were strict Mormons who expected obedience. He also knew Steven had been recently spanked for not coming straight home from school.

If I had kids, I would avoid churches, church functions, Christian schools, Vacation Bible Schools, etc. like the plague. Pedophiles also seek out kids' clubs and sports functions, but at least you can tell your kids to beware of authority figures and think for themselves.

[AndrewP]

16. Pure truth

[Ladyhawk]

19. Yep, but a lot of people don't want to see the truth. nt

[JI7]

20. yes with Staynor's brother killing people

i didn't know anything about Steven Staynor until the news of his brother having killed people at that park.

the story was just sad and scary.

[TEmperorHasNoClothes]

13. was it vengence?

I had no idea about Ellie in and out of prison or the son murdering someone. That is truly sad. Was she law abiding before her son was molested and before she killed the perp?
I'm not sure it was vengence as much as extreme emotional distress. I remember the story when it happened. The consequences for child molestation was almost nothing. This wasn't talked about much in the public or media and we didn't know as much about the aftermath of abuse or victim advocacy. Things aren't great now, but they are a lot better than when Ellie killed the perp.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. I remember this story so well. I wonder if she & son would have been better off if she hadn't

killed the perp. The time in jail messed up both their lives.

[Ladyhawk]

9. Tuolumne County resident here. This county is fucked up.

During the Ellie Nesler trial, the small downtown park near the court house was full of Ellie Nesler supporters. At the time, I had mixed feelings about the whole affair. I could not, in good conscience, support what she had done. The whole thing brought back nasty memories and made me furious with our thick-headed populous.

Over a period of a few months during my eighth year, I was also molested in and around the church I attended. (Isn't it odd how Christianity is at the center of so many of these episodes?) At that point in time, the good people of Sonora did NOT support my family. They thought the perpetrator was being railroaded by the children involved in the case. Yeah, right.

My mother and father were understandably furious and entertained thoughts of causing the molester bodily harm. In fact, my mother claims that were she to have a second chance, she'd "take care of it quietly" rather than go to court. The court system and the community both failed us. There were no demonstrations on the court house lawn. The molester copped a plea and fled back to his country of origin.

As an adult, I would have also been furious, but as a child, I was afraid of getting the molester into trouble. I actually got physically ill when my mother had him arrested. Kelly, another girl involved in the case, said she also felt ill and didn't want the man to get into trouble because of us. I had the worst headache I had ever experienced.

Now, can you imagine if my mother had acted on her fury and put five bullets into the back of the molester's head? Can you imagine how that would have caused a small child even more pain, especially a small child who felt responsible for getting her molester in trouble?

Jesus Christ.

No wonder Willie was so fucked up. Obviously, I don't know what he felt as a child when his mother pulled that trigger, but I know how I would have felt. All the support at the court house told Willie murder was OK as long as there was a good reason for doing it. At the same time, he probably felt guilty for getting Daniel Driver killed. All this is speculation, but I can't help but wonder if he re-enacted the crime of first-degree murder in an attempt to figure out this fucked-up world and his own fucked-up life.

I want OUT of this fucked-up county. I have to figure out a way to escape or it is going to drive me mad.

[cabluedem]

12. Tuolumne Co. is one of many Sierra Nevada counties where Meth and Weed are a major export. It's no

wonder these counties are so messed up and poor.

[musiclawyer]

14. Calaveras County is next door

The kid was in juvie court here lots of times. I saw them in person--they were all pretty low functioning people. And BTW, Tuolumne County has plenty of democrats much like Calaveras--in the 40s percentage wise. It's just that the Republicans there are all BASE types. Calaveras County here has the benefit of being a little more gentrified-- much more bay area retirees and transplant, rather than central valley transplants. Maybe that's why we have all the snobby wineries and tourist trap prices...

[Ladyhawk]

15. Hmmm...maybe we could have coffee sometime.

I feel a bit isolated here. OK, I feel very isolated here.

[superconnected]

17. As if there are less FU'd countries in the world.

[superconnected]

18. The problem with taking the law into your own hands is it throws out the democratic process.

All those laws fought for get flushed down the toilet and we become a frontier justice nation. That unltimately would not serve anyone but who had the most guns and was willing to kill the most. The savage usually wins.

This woman was an idiot. Interesting reasons but no cigar. Good riddence.