VIGILANTE MOM’S SON GOT 25 TO LIFE FOR KILLING NEIGHBOR

William Nesler, whose mother shot dead the man who allegedly molested him in a California courtroom in 1993, was convicted of first-degree murder for beating his neighbor David Davis in July 2004, after a fight over tools. Police said the attack came less than an hour after Nesler walked out of jail, where he had been held for beating Davis a month earlier.

Nesler, then 23, was the son of Ellie Nesler, who CBS News and the Associated Press reported pulled a gun from her purse on April 2, 1993, and shot Daniel Driver five times in the head. Driver, 35, was a twice-convicted child molester facing seven molestation charges, including one involving her 12-year-old son.

The shooting split the country. Some people condemned her for taking the law into her own hands, and others praised her for exacting her own justice. She was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years, but the conviction was overturned over juror misconduct and she served three years, according to the AP and The Press Democrat.

A lot full of trailers and a restraining order

William and Davis, 45, lived on the same one-acre, junk-strewn lot in Tuolumne County, ringed by barbed wire and crowded with trailers and cars on blocks. Davis’s mother, Rita Brown, said her son was disabled after years of work in Wyoming oil fields. She said he had been hired to clean up the property and was living in a shack there.

On June 24, 2004, police were called after Davis complained that Nesler had stolen his tools. Officers said Nesler charged at Davis and began kicking and beating him. According to the arrest report, Nesler told them, “He’s lucky I didn’t kill him.”

He was sentenced to 60 days in jail for battery, with an order to stay 100 yards from Davis. He served only 32 days, getting early release for good behavior and credits meant to ease crowding.

Records show Nesler was released at 4 a.m. on Sunday, July 25, 2004. About an hour later, police said, he beat Davis again. Officers found him near dawn, unconscious and bleeding from head wounds. He was removed from life support at a Modesto hospital the next day and died from massive head injuries.

A warrant for Nesler’s arrest was issued that Tuesday. Police described him as 6-foot-2, 225 pounds and covered in tattoos, and said he had been booked in 18 separate cases over five years as an adult.

Investigators searched the old Gold Rush towns along Highway 49 in Tuolumne, Calaveras and Mariposa counties. A relative told the AP that Nesler had called a few times and that the family urged him to turn himself in to a bounty hunter. “We told him he needs to come in, but he said the sheriffs are going to kill him,” his aunt said, speaking anonymously. Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla said he had spoken with an FBI agent about bringing Nesler in safely.

Brown said she had sympathized with Nesler after his mother’s shooting, but no longer did. “He needs to be in jail for the rest of his life,” she said. “He is obviously very disturbed and very dangerous.”

Ellie Nesler was in a California prison on methamphetamine manufacturing charges while her son was on the run. She died of breast cancer in December 2008 at 56, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

William evaded police for about a week before surrendering to a Sacramento bounty hunter, the Los Angeles Times reported. A second man, Dean Phillips, 39, was convicted as an accessory after the fact for driving Nesler away from the scene. He received a similar life term.

At sentencing, Nesler told the judge, “I’ve done bad things,” but said he had been “railroaded.” Tuolumne County Deputy District Attorney Eric Hovatter said, “There’s been no visible sign of remorse.” Nesler’s sister Rebecca pleaded for leniency, telling the court he “never had a chance in life” given the molestation and its fallout, according to LegalClarity.

On June 20, 2005, William Nesler was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of David Davis.