Natalie Pierre Williams in critical condition after car wreck

Three domestic violence incidents in six weeks don't move the needle?

 

Can't assume he was at fault.

 

True.

 

Which is fine, but at some point the legal process should initiate. I doubt she'll ever get jail time or even additional punishment at the end, and I'm not advocating for either, but publicly ignoring it because the person who did the act was the only victim is dangerously shaky ground. If it was an intentional fire, at the very least, there was a threat to property and possibly human life, and it not leading to death or destruction doesn't negate the initial act.

It sounds like a distinction without a difference, but I think it's still something worthy of being upheld.

 

You'll never be sheriff of Mayberry.

 

Without Aunt Bea making me pies, what would be the point?

 

He and Natalie both have been arrested for domestic violence.

And given what we now know, it seems odd to presume that he's the instigator, instead of the person who a) has a background of professional dishonesty and b) committed what would normally be felony arson.

 

Setting a car on fire is not typically arson.

Arson is the malicious burning of a dwelling house of another. Some states have redefined that and in a few instances have extended it to include vehicles, but most have not gone that far.

Depending on the circumstances, it could be charged as criminal mischief or destruction of property, which are typically misdemeanors. If it was done to collect insurance or to escape loan payments you might get to fraud, but otherwise you're looking at a misdemeanor.

 

Fair enough. My larger point still stands, however. In looking at the available evidence and past behavior, it seems far more likely to assume that she is the instigator in their domestic disputes.

And given that he was all but accused of murder a few weeks ago, I think he is deserving of a larger benefit of the doubt now that the real story has come out.

 

Prosecutors exercise discretion all the time. They are not "publicly ignoring it" by declining to charge her, they are exercising judgment. Doing so does not put them on "shaky ground."

There are circumstances where there is no justice in pursuing charges, which are likely to be low level misdemeanors, against a defendant who only harmed themselves and who will bear a deep physical reminder of their action for the rest of their life.

 

I guess there's really no preferred way for killing yourself, and often it's the result that is sought and the method is almost irrelevant, but I gotta think setting yourself on fire is pretty damn low on the list. Wow.

 

I would not make any assumptions about who is "the instigator" in any particular relationship without having a great deal more information than what has been made public in this case. Domestic violence is typically quite complex and at times in an abusive relationship both the victim and the abuser can be instigators of any given situation. There are also relationships in which both parties are at times the abuser and the victim.

That said, the husband in this case does deserve some leeway in the public eye, given the earlier stories that implied he was more responsible than what the cops are now saying.