Ellie Nesler

Elena Starr Nesler (August 2, 1952 – December 26, 2008)[1] was an American woman known for shooting and killing, in a court room, the man accused of molesting her son.[2][3][4][5][6] Her case was reported on throughout the United States,[3] and the Associated Press wrote that the incident "sparked a national debate about vigilantism".[2]

She shot and killed her son's accused molester in a Jamestown, California courtroom during the preliminary hearing on the charges against him. She served three years of a 10-year sentence and was released after an appeal based on jury misconduct. She sparked a significant national debate, and a made for TV movie about vigilantism.

Rather than opting for a retrial, she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was paroled with time served. She later went back to prison after a conviction on drug charges, for which she served more than three years. During her first term in prison, she developed breast cancer, which ultimately caused her death in 2008 at the age of 56.

Killing of Driver

Nesler made headlines in 1993 when she killed, on April 2, Daniel Mark Driver,[3] who had been accused of child molestation after his abuse of five boys (including her then-six-year-old son, William),[7] in the courtroom of the Jamestown Justice Court.

Driver had previous convictions for child molestation.[7] According to Jon Thurber of the Los Angeles Times, the finding that Nesler, when she killed Driver, had methamphetamines significantly influencing her body caused the "sympathetic portrait" of herself portrayed by her defense team to "erode".[3]

She fired five shots into Driver's head, killing him instantly. In 2002, she was convicted of selling and possessing methamphetamine. She was released from a woman's facility near Chowchilla, California in 2006.[1]

The television film Judgment Day: The Ellie Nesler Story was based upon the incident.[3]

Nesler died at age 56 at the UC Davis Medical Center.[3]

References
  1. "Vigilante killer Ellie Nesler dies at 56". MSNBC. AP. December 30, 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  2. "Ellie Nesler killed son's accused molester in courtroom shooting". The Associated Press. December 29, 2008.
  3. Thurber, Jon (December 30, 2008). "Ellie Nesler dies at 56; woman killed her son's accused molester in courtroom". Los Angeles Times.
  4. "US vigilante killer Ellie Nesler dies aged 56". December 30, 2008 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  5. Frank, Russell (2000). "The Making and Unmaking of a Folk Hero: The Ellie Nesler Story". Western Folklore. 59 (3/4): 197–214. doi:10.2307/1500232 – via JSTOR.
  6. Stannard, Matthew B.; Writer, Chronicle Staff (December 30, 2008). "Nesler dies - killed man accused of molestation". SFGate.
  7. "Accused Child Molester Slain at Courthouse". Los Angeles Times. April 4, 1993.
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