William Lynch

You may recall that I’m not a pro­po­nent of “stand your ground” laws because they tend to encour­age “vig­i­lante jus­tice”. That is, it becomes too easy for some­one to use those laws as cover for becom­ing sole judge, jury, and exe­cu­tioner in retal­i­a­tion for slights, real or imagined.

It is my oppo­si­tion to vig­i­lante jus­tice that led me to be par­tic­u­larly con­cerned about a ver­dict ren­dered last Thurs­day in San Jose, California.

On May 10, 2010, 44-​​year-​​old William Lynch drove roughly 50 miles from his home in San Fran­cisco to the Los Gatos retire­ment home of 67-​​year-​​old Rev­erend Jerold Lind­ner, a for­mer Jesuit priest. Accord­ing to a Santa Clara County Sher­iff spokesper­son, Lynch con­fronted Lind­ner regard­ing alleged sex­ual abuse when Lynch was seven years old. When Lind­ner claimed not to rec­og­nize Lynch, the younger man began beat­ing the retired priest. (more…)