Were the Actions of Man Who Attacked His Stepson to Avenge His Daughter's Rape Justified?

When an Arlington, TX father caught his 18-year-old stepson in the act of raping his 8-year old daughter, he called the police. A medical examination determined that the girl has been anally raped.

The teenager was arrested on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault and jailed for the crime. The man warned his wife, the teen's mother, not to bond him out of jail or he would hurt him. But, unbeknownst to the man, the wife did bond her son out of jail.

When the stepson called home to request a ride, his mother didn't show up...his stepfather did. Instead of taking the teen home, he took him to an abandoned house. He then severely beat him with a baseball bat and sodomized him with a wrench-like metal tool.

The teen was able to make it to a pay phone to summon police. He was taken to an area hospital for treatment. After finding evidence to corroborate the stepson's claims, a warrant was issued for the man's arrest for aggravated sexual assault. The man turned himself in to the Tarrant County Jail on Friday. He was freed on Saturday after posting $17,500 bond.

The names of the father and stepson are not being released to protect the identity of the young female sexual assault victim.

The father has had previous arrests in Tarrant County for burglary, possession of marijuana, theft by check and assault with bodily injury. The stepson does not have an adult criminal record in Tarrant County.

Sgt. Cheryl Johnson, supervisor of the Forth Worth sex crimes unit, was quoted as having said "This is a very unique case, but we have a criminal justice system in place and no one can take the law into their own hands. They need to allow the criminal justice system to work for them and although the process may seem long, it is the process that works."

In 1994, Ellie Nesler was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting and killing Daniel Driver in a California courthouse. Driver had allegedly molested her 6 year old son William at a Christian camp and threatened to kill his family if he told anyone. Nesler said she killed Driver because she feared the twice-convicted child molester would go free.

Nelser was defiantly unrepentant for killing Driver, telling police he deserved to die. "Maybe I'm not God, but I'll tell you what, I'm the closest thing to it for all of the other little boys."

Perhaps the same sense of anger and moral outrage drove the Texas dad to attack his stepson. Maybe, like Nesler, he was convinced that his stepson would be given nothing more than a slap on the wrist by the criminal justice system. It's likely that he wanted to make his stepson experience the same type of pain, suffering and terror he had put his little girl through.

The fact that the man was able to walk in on his stepson in the process of raping his daughter and exercise enough restraint to call police and allow them to handle the matter in the first place is remarkable. How many of us could do the same thing? More than likely, the man was able to table his rage long enough to attend to his traumatized little girl.

Clearly, the thought of his stepson being out on the streets and having the potential to victimize his daughter again was too much for the father to handle. Under the circumstances, while the father's actions are not justifiable, they are understandable. They may not be defensible, but they are comprehensible.