Man defends attacks on sex offenders: Crusader gets jail term
In the Wild, Wild West, vigilante justice held a certain cachet, and it was often the only justice available. Now we live under the rule of law- not that our most recent DUMB@$$ has figured that one out yet….
CONCORD, N.H. — Lawrence Trant sees himself as a righteous crusader who put muscle behind his boiling outrage against pedophiles.
The state of New Hampshire sees Trant differently. He is serving a 10- to 30-year sentence in New Hampshire State Prison after pleading guilty to attempting to murder two convicted sex offenders whose names and addresses he found on an Internet registry posted by the state.
“I don’t want people to steal the souls of little kids,” Trant, 57, said in an interview in prison last week. “I’m doing 30 years for something I think is morally justified.”
But prosecutor John Weld says Trant is one of the most cold-blooded criminals he has encountered. If Trant had not been arrested, Weld said, the native of Cambridge, Mass., probably would have killed someone convicted of a sex crime against children.
“He doesn’t seem to have any conscience about violence to other people,” Weld said. “These people have as much right to justice as anybody else.”
The case has become more complicated than a simple question of right and wrong. The sordid histories of Trant’s victims, his impassioned testimony on the witness stand, and his use of an Internet list to track down his targets have infused the case with controversy and conflicting senses of justice.
Trant is certainly not the first self-righteous zealot to seriously consider dispatching convicted child sex offenders to their own private Hell. Most folks ultimately realize, however, that murder will land THEM in jail, no matter how much they believe they would be doing the Lord’s work. They are at least smart enough to realize that in the end they must allow our justice system to work, lest they run the risk of becoming a convicted felon themselves.
While one can certainly understand and perhaps even share the anger felt by Mr. Trant, there can be absolutely no excuse for taking the law into one’s own hands. If we were to condone murdering child-molesters, where do we stop? How long before someone feels it is acceptable to murder purse snatchers…or jaywalkers. Yes, it’s a silly example, to be certain, but one that is not out of the realm of possibility. Once we start down this slope, where do we stop? And would happen in this Brave New World if Mr. Trant were to mistakenly identify his prey and kill an innocent person? What would that be considered…collateral damage?
Lawrence Trant may be at peace with himself. He may even feel justified in the acts he has committed. In the end, though, he is nothing more but your common, garden variety zealot with anger control issues- a serial killer in training, if you will. Fortunately, most of the jury managed to see through the DUMB@$$ exterior and were able to admit that Trant poses a legitimate ongoing threat to society. In this case, at least, the system worked.
