Adult daughter kills father in self defense

[seamusTX]

Last week in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma (middle of nowhere, east-central part of the state), a 22-year-old woman came home to find her reportedly drunk 47-year-old father violently assaulting her mother. The man then threatened the older woman with a knife and a firearm. After two hours of this, the daughter retrieved a ".38-caliber Smith and Wesson pistol" and shot her father once in the upper torso. He died almost immediately.

Yesterday the DA classified the case as justifiable homicide in defense of another.

http://www.sequoyahcountytimes.com/page ... lets&open=&" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's rare for a woman in this kind of abusive situation to defend herself successfully, and even more rare for her to be cleared by the justice system.

I can't imagine the pain that this family must cope with now.

- Jim

[Drewthetexan]

I say good for her. I have neither patience nor compassion for abusive men.

I suspect that pain will be moderated with a measure of relief.

[seamusTX]

I said I can't imagine, and I can't, but ... sometimes a death comes as a relief for various reasons, but there is a lot of guilt associated with feeling that relief. Some people continue to wish that the situation could have been miraculously resolved with no one getting hurt.

- Jim

[pbwalker]

I say good for her. I have neither patience nor compassion for abusive men.

In my mind, they are not men. They are insecure 'guys' who are, mentally, little boys.

[Drewthetexan]

I'd have to agree with you, Jim. I have met people who seem content to coexist with domestic violence, emotional abuse, and the like, all the while wishing it would magically go away or stop. These people (the offenders) don't ever stop; not when you ask, not when you move away and seek a divorce or separation, not until they find a new victim or until someone makes the situation untenable. Having seen and shared the emotional stress, constant worry and fear, and utter terror at so much as a phone call or text message - I'd like to think abuse victims could callously dismiss it as necessary to preserve their lives, but I know that doesn't happen. I think I'd rather live with guilt than fear.

[caldvn]

Not that I condone the action of the "father", I would think that the mother and daughter could have, by choice, left a long time ago. I'm not sure, statiscally in abusive family, but isn't the situation of abuse tend to go up and up and up until something really bad happens? There are a lot of things that are hard to understand...

[bryang]

Domestic violence always continues to escalate usually until in ends in the death of the victim. Why didn't the abused just leave...? I don't know. I have heard people a lot smarter than I am try to explain why they continue to stay in these kind of abusive circumstances. But I have to say, it still remains something I find hard to understand.

I do pray that these two ladies do find peace in their life.

-geo

[Drewthetexan]

Abuse does escalate. It took my ex-girlfriend nearly being strangled by one her ex-boyfriends before she become distinctly cognizant of her situation. In retrospect she could see how it all progressed but at the time she was unaware of it for some reason or another.