This could have happened to me when I was young...

[Hornet33]

I would say it's self defense, but if your going to hit someone in a situation like that, why hit them in the head??? Oh I remember now...that's how it's done in Hollywood. The one punch knockout. Because they hit they guy in the head and he died, they will pay for it. Now one good punch to the gut, slight upward thrust into the diaphram, the guys down. No visible marks. No damage. No one goes to jail.

[bsdaddict]

Originally posted by Gunthr
I've always thought that the law stood for the victim's  family in these cases.  Its difficult to generalize, but in cases like this, a victim's family member might well be so distraught that they go looking to kill the person who did this to thier loved one, whom they will never see again.  You can't generalize, but a victim, or his family demands justice.  The government is supposed to get that justice for the victim's family.  Without that, homicides would invite revenge, or street justice more often.

exactly.  the police who investigated my brothers assault (at the time he was *only* in a coma..) screwed things up and the %^$&^% spent around two days in jail before being set free.  It was quite the struggle not to go after the bastard myself.  It's been close to 10 years now, and I still occasionally think about taking a road trip and finding him.  It really sucks knowing someone got away with murdering your kid brother.