Self Defense, Justifiable or Criminal?
As a defense advocate and sometime instructor, I must say this aggrieved husband may well have taken it too far when he engaged a fleeing rapist. Had that happened at my home there would have been no fight. One loud bang and then sirens and tears. And I’d have far less legal exposure. Is that just? Maybe not. Legal? Almost certainly so.
But I also must admit I get the pursuit of a dangerous felon.
A Bronx man allegedly beat an attacker to death with what appeared to be a tire iron after the attacker tried to rape the man’s wife, law enforcement sources told NBC 4 New York.
The woman’s 61-year-old husband was arrested on manslaughter charges Tuesday, hours after police say he fatally beat the would-be rapist in the elevator of the couple’s Washington Avenue apartment building. He was released Tuesday night after pleading not guilty and the charges were downgraded to two counts of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment, according to court documents.
The alleged rapist, 43-year-old Earl Nash, forced his way into the building shortly after 10 p.m., authorities said.
Nash allegedly knocked at the victim’s door, pushed his way in when she answered and exposed himself and tried to tear off the woman’s clothes, according to sources. Amid the struggle, the woman called for her husband and one of the woman’s cousins tried to fight off Nash.