Cold-blooded murder. Town says it was justified?

I read this very interesting article in the San Francisco Chronicle today. Unfortunately, there is no link for it online (SFGate says the article is only available in print). The article was titled "Town says abuse drove man to kill," and it was on the front page of the newspaper.

The article discussed the trial of 32-year-old Aaron Vargas who is accused of murdering his 63-year-old former neighbor, Darrell McNeill. On February 8th of last year, Vargas went to visit McNeill. After exchanging a few words with the man, Vargas proceeded to shoot McNeill in the chest with "a .44-caliber round from a Civil War-style cap-and-ball revolver." McNeill died slowly, and Vargas stayed and watched as he took apart his weapon. McNeill's wife, Liz, was present during the entire event. According to Liz, "Vargas told McNeill 'he was lucky' his wife was there." After shooting McNeill, Vargas told the dying man "you're not going to hurt anyone again." He then revealed to Liz that McNeill had molested him as a child.

Vargas returned home and told his mother, Robin Vargas, that he'd shot McNeill. He also revealed that McNeill had abused him during his childhood. Apparently, the abuse began when Vargas was 11-years-old and went on a fishing trip which McNeill also attended. Robin recalls that following this particular trip, Vargas's grades plummeted and he became very withdrawn. Apparently, the abuse continued until about 4 years ago, when Vargas finally stood up to McNeill. But, McNeill did not back down easily. He continued to call Vargas and drop by his house, even offering to babysit his young daughter.

Vargas was arrested later that night. However, over the course of the past year, support for Vargas has grown. Quite a few other men have come forward and revealed that they were also victims of McNeill's abuse. In fact, several people had filed reports against McNeill over a decade ago. None of the reports were ever followed up on. Many within the community, including McNeill's wife, Liz, think that it would be inappropriate to sentence Vargas to a life in prison. Liz has said that she would prefer Vargas to "receive counseling instead of a lengthy prison term." In fact, it seems that the only people pushing for a harsh sentence are the detectives investigating the case and the district attorney.

In this case, I have to say that I feel it would be inappropriate to sentence Aaron Vargas to a life in prison. He was abused by McNeill for 17 years!! I cannot even imagine the emotional pain Vargas must be experiencing. While I think he does deserve some prison time, I feel the focus should be on providing Vargas with the counseling and support he needs to move on. While we cannot condone murder, I think there needs to be proper attention paid to the fact that Vargas was clearly not in his right mind. He had been abused for so many years, he just wanted the pain to end. What really irritates me is that there had been previous allegations against McNeill, but nothing had been investigated or followed up on. If McNeill had been prosecuted a decade ago, so much abuse could have been prevented.

There is one point in the story that I find slightly confusing. Liz McNeill was present during the entire murder. She saw Vargas shoot her husband, and was there during the half hour in which Vargas waited for McNeill to die. I do not know the exact circumstances, but wouldn't it have made sense for her to call the police? Vargas's gun only had one bullet, which he used on McNeill. It seems like McNeill's death could have been prevented.