This all could have been avoided if Allison would have shown some respect for herself and cut ties with him when he abused her the first time.
I have a saying for people who make ignorant comments such as this.
"
It's easy to get out of a relationship you're not in."
As for Teresa Baker, if she and hubby owns the house next door (where the daughter was staying), then she may be able to use that in her defense.
That being said, while I am against vigilantism, the outcome of this tragic case is not really surprising. Recall the murdered 17-year-old who kept calling for help and LE told her to stop calling. Also, this comment by Jeffrey Sadler's grandfather (Judge Black) is very telling, in that it gives some context wrt that particular social strata's attitude:
"
I just can't believe it," he said. "
It normally would just work out. One would go one way, and one would go the other way."
Unfortunately, Judge Black's cavalier attitude wrt domestic violence tends to be the rule and not the exception. Which is also unsurprising considering that we (as in the American public) did not even begin to recognize such things as child abuse until the mid-1970s (at which point CAPTA was enacted). Prior to that, "
a man's home was his castle and his wife and children were his property." In fact, prior to the 1960s (when "
the tender years doctrine" came of age), men were automatically granted custody in divorce cases.
Things have changed quite a bit since that period, yet much as far as attitudes remain (as is reflected in Black's comment). I suspect it will take at least a couple more generations to wash the more negative attitudes down the drain, so to speak.
