A Connecticut attorney was charged with murder for stabbing his neighbor to death on suspicion that the deceased had molested his 2-year-old daughter, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Jonathon Edington, 29, is accused of creeping through the bedroom window of 58-year-old Barry James and stabbing him nearly a dozen times in the chest after hearing of the alleged molestation from his wife.
"The daughter gave the mother information which was alarming and disturbing. The mom relayed it to her husband. That was the spark," said Michael Sherman, Edington's attorney.
While there are lots of unanswered (and unanswerable) questions regarding the events that transpired and the people involved, it is possible that Edington did a public service by killing his neighbor, even if he committed a crime in the process.
Murder is always wrong in the eyes of the law, but some people view homicide as potentially justifiable.
Although the nature of the alleged molestation has yet to be revealed, if James did act inappropriately and wasn't merely flashing his neighbor's daughter or touching himself in her presence, it could be argued that his sexual abuse of a 2-year-old might merit his death.
One question is worth asking: Can you bet a man's life on the word of a 2-year-old?
Some toddlers can communicate and comprehend better than others, but many also have active imaginations, which might make them a bit less than credible.
It is also possible that Edington's wife fabricated the story of the daughter's molestation in order to further her own unknown agenda.
Regardless of what we know about his family, Edington himself is probably more familiar with them than anyone, and he would likely be the most qualified judge of their character.
He was obviously convinced of his family's honesty if statements they made motivated him to go play connect-the-dots with his neighbor's organs.
When police visited Edington's home after discovering his neighbor's body, they found him covered in blood and standing in his kitchen next to a large knife laid out on the counter.
While we don't know exactly how the events unfolded before James' killing, we do know that Edington, a patent lawyer with no police record whatsoever, had complained about James before.
The lawyer had called officers to the neighborhood because James was visible through a window.
"Either he was partly clothed or revealed parts of his anatomy that were inappropriate," local police Capt. Gary MacNamara said.
We also know that the murder victim's neighbors told the Connecticut Post that James, who spent time behind bars for drunken driving, had been found intoxicated on the street and had shouted obscenities at their children.
James might have been innocently butchered by the successful young lawyer living next to him, but that seems to be an unlikely scenario.
I can't claim to know what happened between James and Edington's daughter, but I can say that I would probably do the same things that Edington is accused of if I was convinced that my child had been molested by someone who lived in my neighborhood.
I have a hard time believing that I'm alone in this view. I would hope that all parents would stand up for their kids when they fall prey to sexual predators.
Would you?
Daniel Raven is a junior majoring in journalism. His columns run on Fridays and he writes them in class while pretending to take notes. He can be reached at: daniel.raven@asu.edu.
