The following comes from the Simple Justice Blog with my comments added. eAdvocate3-2-2009 Washington:
Tammy Gibson was a mother who cared enough about her daughter that she was ready to beat William Baldwin to death. When everything was over, including her prosecution, she was ready to do it again. And her hope is that next time, she will have greater success. What do we do with Tammy Gibson?
Doug Berman asked the question at Sentencing Law & Policy, then asked some other blawgers what they thought about it. It was a great question.
According to police documents, Level-3 sex offender William A. Baldwin had moved into his uncle's home in Tacoma in early June. Following his move, county deputies distributed flyers around the neighborhood to alert residents of his presence. On June 19, Gibson went to the house in the trailer park and asked for Baldwin.
When Baldwin stepped outside, she claimed she was going to kill him because Baldwin had molested her children. Gibson then proceeded to hit Baldwin repeatedly with her bat, the document said, leaving him with an injured arm. "I kept swingin' and swingin', and swingin'," Gibson told investigators.
Contrary to what she had said to Baldwin, Gibson later told investigators Baldwin had not molested her children. But she did say that she recognized Baldwin from the flyer as the man who had chatted up her then-10-year-old daughter during the previous summer. Baldwin is the memorable height of 7 feet, 3 inches tall. "For him to be right there, in front of my house and talking to my child — made me crazy," she told KOMO. "And I told him I thought he was a piece of crap and I smacked him," she added. "I just didn't stop hitting him. I just told him that 'if it were up to me, I'd kill ya."'...
According to the ABC story, Gibson received a 3 month sentence for her efforts. One of her daughters, Rachael Porter, reacted:
"I think it's crap; that she was protecting her kids like she should have been. They locked her up for way too long."Protecting one's children can be a very vague concept. Tammy made clear that she was by no means deterred.
"No, I'd do it again if not better," she told ABC News Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV. "I don't care if it hurts me, I don't regret it. It got him away from my kids and all the other kids in the neighborhood."So many of the issues wrapped around sentencing, sex offenders, vigilantism and motherhood come into play here that this case is tantamount to a Rorschach test for criminal sentencing. Which side are you on, boys. Which side are you on?
Criminal defense lawyers often talk of jury nullification, the sense of the ordinary citizen that a person should not be convicted for his conduct despite the fact that it is against the law. This may be because the law is perceived as unjust, or the defendant is perceived as not being morally culpable. In either event, we look to a jury to free the defendant from the technical yokes the law would otherwise require be applied.
The Tammy Gibson case is perhaps the antithesis of jury nullification. It is institutional nullification, where the officials who make the wheels of the system grind, the police, prosecutors and judges, are unable to muster the degree of anger toward Tammy Gibson to do more than go through the motions. A three month sentence for beating another person with a baseball bat is, under almost any other scenario, trivial. Why should this be different.
The set up here clearly tugs at the heartstrings of the institution. A mom who, whether technically right or wrong, is acting out of love and protection for her child. A sex offender, an individual most despised by the institution of all. One holds the status of moral righteousness in the eyes and minds of the institution, while the other is as worthless and morally disgusting as any person can be. One is worthy. The other will never be worthy. Is there anyone who, in the heart, can't appreciate the feelings that ran through Tammy Gibson, believing that this man tried to go after her baby?
Of course, William Baldwin did not harm Tammy Gibson's daughter. William Baldwin was inside his home, doing nothing wrong, when Tammy Gibson chose to attack. As much as Baldwin may be relegated to the human junk heap in the eyes of many, he was a human being entitled to exist without being the target of death of any person who felt entitled to pick up a bat and beat him to death. Certainly, we can't have moms trying to murder people at will for perceived wrongs that never actually happened. Certainly, people can't simply decided that sex offenders are perpetually fair game for harm.
Tammy Gibson's reaction to her prosecution and sentence invokes two of the fundamental premises of sentencing, general and specific deterrence. She is the poster child. For many parents with perceived grievances against a sex offender, a three month sentence might be seen as a cheap price to pay to get in a good beating. Rather than deter such crimes, it could prove to be an incentive. If I felt that someone might harm my child, I would happily put three months at risk. Probably a whole lot longer.
Adding fuel to the fire is Tammy Gibson's challenge to the system, affirming her belief that she was right to attack and that she will not be deterred. This is an intolerable position, regardless of what one thinks of her motives. To ignore it is to invite her to take a second shot. I suspect the judge realizes this, but isn't overly concerned about losing sleep the night of William Baldwin's funeral.
Doug expresses concern that a three month sentence isn't "a truly effective or sensible sentence." I doubt it's even in the ballpark of effective or sensible. It's the proverbial slap on the wrist, an extremely modest price to pay if one seeks to deter the beating of sex offenders by moms. Clearly, it hasn't done much to change Tammy's mind, and knowing how protective I, as a parent, am with my children, it wouldn't do much to me either if I felt the way she did. Any half-decent parent will go to extreme lengths to protect their threatened child. The problem is where the legitimate line of threat is to be drawn, and it seems clear that Tammy drew it in a place where few would, and no one should.
It's hard to muster sympathy for a child molester, even when he's paid his dues and caused no harm since. It's hard to avoid the sense of sympathy toward a parent who, even belatedly, perceived a threat to her child. The ABC article doesn't say what Baldwin did to merit the title "sex offender." But it's enough in our society to simply have that title hung around his neck to make him unworthy of humanity. It's enough to render him unworthy of much protection from our institutions.
And this apparently makes Baldwin, and anyone else forced to wear the title "sex offender" (many of whom have done little or nothing to deserve the moral culpability that goes along with this epithet) a lower breed of person, someone who can be beaten without serious consequence according to the sentence given Tammy Gibson.
This is a dangerous and unacceptable message. Tammy Gibson feels no remorse. Another parent may well accept three months in jail for the chance to beat a sex offender. The message to parents, and to sex offenders, is clear. Sex offenders are fair targets and moms who beat them, or worse, deserve our understanding and sympathy.
The story ends with one additional assertion that requires mention. Tammy Gibson is not merely unremorseful, but sees herself as standing at the vanguard of parental righteousness.
Gibson said she hoped that the attention created by her case would lead to a change in the laws regarding released sex offenders.In her mind, Tammy Gibson is the hero of this story, perhaps hoping for a law in her name entitling mothers to beat former sex offenders at will. No, a three month sentence is not effective or sensible, and Tammy Gibson is not a hero. Every sentence sends a message, and the message sent by this sentence is that sex offenders can be attacked with virtual impunity, even when they have done no harm. This is a very dangerous message, and it was sent as clearly as possible.
"I would hope that me doing this and going to jail would change something, change some kind of law, change something where people like him can't be standing around little kids you know what I mean?" Gibson said in her interview with KOMO-TV. "It's not right, it's not fair to the kids at all."
Deputies say woman attacked Level 3 sex offender in her neighborhood
6-18-2008 Washington:
Pierce County sheriff’s deputies have arrested a woman on suspicion of beating up a Level 3 sex offender who had moved into her neighborhood.
The woman was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault and second-degree felony harassment. The offender, William A. Baldwin, was injured in the attack Monday night, Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said. He was initially treated at a hospital and then released. He was booked into Pierce County Jail this morning on suspicion of failure to register as a sex offender.
Sheriff’s deputies distributed fliers in the neighborhood Monday afternoon. A few hours later, the woman allegedly attacked Baldwin.
Troyer said deputies do not condone acts of vigilante justice.
“That’s not the point of putting fliers out,” he said.
He encouraged neighbors to be aware if a sex offender moves into their neighborhood and to contact law enforcement if the offender commits a new crime or violates his parole.
In this case, “there was no new crime. She was just upset,” Troyer said.
Baldwin was convicted in 1999 in Pierce County of first-degree child molestation after he sexually assaulted two 5-year-old girls who were his neighbors. He had participated in the sex offender treatment program while in jail. ..News Source.. by STACEY MULICK; The News Tribune
Woman beats Level 3 sex offender with bat, deputies say
Pierce County sheriff’s deputies have arrested a woman on suspicion of beating up a Level 3 sex offender who had moved into her neighborhood.
The woman was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault and second-degree felony harassment. The offender, William A. Baldwin, was injured in the attack Monday night, Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said. He was initially taken to a hospital. He was booked into Pierce County Jail this morning on suspicion of failure to register as a sex offender.
Sheriff’s deputies distributed fliers in the neighborhood Monday afternoon. A few hours later, the woman allegedly attacked Baldwin (pictured here).
Troyer said deputies do not condone acts of vigilante justice.
“That’s not the point of putting fliers out,” he said.
He encouraged neighbors to be aware if a sex offender moves into their neighborhood and to contact law enforcement if the offender commits a new crime or violates his parole.
"We thoroughly enjoy putting those people back in jail," Troyer said. "Let us do it."
In this case, “there was no new crime. She was just upset,” Troyer said.
Baldwin was convicted in 1999 in Pierce County of first-degree child molestation after he sexually assaulted two 5-year-old girls who were his neighbors. He had participated in the sex offender treatment program while in jail. ..News Source.. by Stacey Mulick (Stacey Mulick covers Pierce County crime and safety issues for The News Tribune. She’s been the crime reporter since May 2000 and been a reporter at the paper for more than seven years.)
If You Picked Sides, Tammy Baldwin or William Gibson??
Note: In this video Gibson states "he lives right next door," so is it illogical that a next door neighbor might talk to people -and their kids- that live "right next door" to them?
6-20-2008 Washington:
A woman who police said assaulted a sex offender with a baseball bat said," I'd do it again if I had to," reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.
After learning that her Puyallup neighbor, 24-year-old William Baldwin, was a convicted level 3 sex offender from a flyer she received from the Pierce County Sheriff's Department, Tammy Gibson said, "I lost my mind."
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Kevin McCarty interviewed both Gibson and Baldwin.
"She grabbed a bat, picked it up and started beating the crap out of me. She started beating me the way a man would with a bat", said Baldwin of the incident. "I've never even seen her before and she just comes over and accuses me of molesting her children and attacks me with a bat."
Gibson said she had seen Baldwin around the River Road Trailer Park and adjacent Cottonwood Mobile Home Park several times over the last year.
"I can't believe that he was allowed in our neighborhood", said Gibson.
Gibson said she often saw the 7 feet 3 inches tall Baldwin talking with her 10-year-old daughter.
"Last year, on the Fourth of July, he was talking to my daughter. I got the flyer in the mail and I snapped. I went nuts," Gibson told McCarty.
Gibson said she once told her live-in boyfriend she thought Baldwin was harmless, but said all that changed when she got the flyer that listed Baldwin's conviction on two counts of first-degree child molestation in 1999 as well as other offenses.
The flyer states that Baldwin lured a 5-year-old girl into a doghouse in his backyard and sexually assaulted her. That crime was committed while he was on parole for another sexual assault in which he forced a different 5- year-old girl into a sex act with him.
Gibson, who one neighbor referred to as "angry Tammy," at first told investigators she believed Baldwin had molested her daughter, then later admitted she knew he had not, but was afraid he would re-offend, court documents said.
Baldwin told McCarty he understands why people need to be informed that he is living in their neighborhood and claimed he has been assaulted in the past when people residing near him learned about his criminal past.
Baldwin said he has not re-offended since his release from prison in 2002 and said he has gone through counseling while jailed and now wants to put his past behind him.
"I did wrong to kids and people. I'm not like that anymore," said Baldwin.
Baldwin said that on the day of the assault, he had just completed a job interview and was looking forward to getting to work with a new company.
He also said he approves of the sex offender notification law.
"I think people should be told. If I wasn't a sex offender and I had a sex offender or a rapist living near me, I'd be mad too. I understand why she did what she did, but I didn't touch her kids," Baldwin said of Gibson.
Because he lived in the trailer park near River Road for several months before changing his registered address as required by law, Baldwin could be charged with failing to register as a sex offender.
Baldwin, who is currently in the Pierce County Jail, said he had to be escorted by Pierce County Corrections Officers for protection once the news of his alleged assault and sex offender status was broadcast by KIRO 7.
Gibson was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and felony harassment. She was arraigned Wednesday and pleaded not guilty.
Gibson said her biggest concern now that she is in jail and could go to prison is her daughter.
"I'm in big trouble for this and I'm wondering who is taking care of my daughter right now. I want to be with my kids, but I guess I just sit and wait," Gibson said tearfully. ..Source.. by KIRO TV
WA- Vigilante could be headed to prison
2-12-2009 Washington:
Last summer, we told you the story of vigilante Tammy Gibson - who took a baseball bat to a child molestor who moved into her neighborhood. We have an update to that story - but first, here's our original story from last June:
There is controversy raging about whether police should notify residents about sex offenders moving into their neighborhoods.THE UPDATE:
In Puyallup, police alerted residents of Cottonwood Mobile Home Park that registered sex offender William Baldwin was moving in.
That apparently set off Tammy Gibson. She went to the home Baldwin was in, and started beating him with an aluminum baseball bat. According to the police report, Gibson told cops "I kept swingin' and swingin". Baldwin is 7-feet-3-inches (!) tall. He was beaten so badly, he wound up in the hospital.
Tammy Gibson has a long criminal history herself - she has been charged with second-degree assault and felony harassment.
Baldwin was convicted of first-degree child molestation in 1998. According to police, he was on parole for forcing a five-year-old neighbor to sexually touch him when he lured another five-year-old into a backyard doghouse where he sexually assaulted her. He is considered at a high-risk to reoffend.
This has reignited the debate over whether police should notify neighbors of a sex offender moving into their neighborhood if it could inspire vigilante attacks like this one.
Tammy Gibson yesterday pleaded gulity to second degree assault for her bat-attack. She will be sentenced next month and faces a sentence of three to eight months in jail. ..News Source.. by MyNorthwest.com
WA- Woman Sentenced In Bat Attack On Sex Offender
2-27-2009 Washington:
TACOMA, Wash. -- The woman who attacked a convicted sex offender with a baseball bat last summer has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for assault.
Tammy Gibson, 40, admitted going after William Baldwin with the bat last June, saying she was angry that Baldwin was seen talking to her daughter. She said she attacked him after she saw a flyer stating that he was convicted of child molestation. In a jailhouse interview after the attack, Baldwin said he had committed his crime as a teenager and was turning his life around. He received minor injuries from the assault.
Gibson became a minor Internet celebrity after granting an interview to KIRO 7 while behind bars. She tearfully claimed she had no regrets for hitting Baldwin, saying she "would do it again" to protect her children. Gibson received offers of support and bail money from people around the country. She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of third degree assault in exchange for dismissal of first-degree assault charges and felony harassment.
Gibson was booked into the Pierce County Jail following her sentencing hearing to begin serving her term. She is being given credited for eleven days already served. ..News Source.. by KIRO 7 Eyewitness News
WA- "I'd do it again, if not better"
After reading her comments following earlier story and the fact that she never saw her daughter near this former offender, one has to wonder if she will be allowed to stay in society when it comes time for her to return. Hopefully they will do some sort of assessment of her at that time to keep society safe.
2-27-2009 Washington:
TACOMA -- A woman who beat a sex offender with a baseball bat last summer after she saw him chatting up her young daughter will spent the next three months in jail. And even after her conviction Friday on assault charges, Tammy Gibson says she still has no remorse for what she did.
According to police documents, Level-3 sex offender William A. Baldwin had moved into his uncle's Puyallup home in early June. Following his move, Pierce County deputies distributed flyers around the neighborhood to alert residents of his presence.
On June 19th, Gibson, an area resident, went to Baldwin's house in the 1800 block of River Road and asked for him.
When Baldwin stepped outside, she claimed she was going to kill him because Baldwin had molested her children. Gibson then proceeded to hit Baldwin repeatedly with her bat, the document said, leaving him with an injured arm.
"I kept swingin' and swingin', and swingin'," Gibson told investigators.
Contrary to what she had said to Baldwin, Gibson later told investigators Baldwin had not molested her children.
She did say, however, that when she saw the flyer, she recognized Baldwin as the man who had chatted up her then-10-year-old daughter during the previous summer. It may have been Baldwin's unusual height of 7 feet 3 inches that made him memorable.
"For him to be right there, in front of my house and talking to my child -- made me crazy," she said.
"And I told him I thought he was a piece of crap and I smacked him," she said. "I just didn't stop hitting him. I just told him that 'if it were up to me, I'd kill ya."'
"I was scared. I was frightened. I didn't know what the hell to do," Baldwin said of being assaulted by the unexpected visitor.
"I just wanted to hurt him," said Gibson.
Friday was judgment day. The judge accepted her Newton plea for assault, meaning she admits guilt in exchange for a lesser sentence. The prosecutor could have given her 8 months, but the judge gave her a three month sentence in the county jail.
It's 90 days for doing what many say was family protection, but the law saw it as an unprovoked attack on a man who wasn't breaking any laws. He was just a neighbor.
The daughter she was protecting was in tears during the sentencing of her mother.
"He (Baldwin) tried to give me fireworks and I wouldn't take it," said Renee Maria Perez.
Gibson's other daughter, Rachael Porter, added, "I think it's crap; that she was protecting her kids like she should have been. They locked her up for way too long."
We talked to Gibson Friday, now back in jail a second time. Again, she didn't mix words if she regrets what she did.
"No, I'd do it again if not better," she said. "I don't care if it hurts me, I don't regret it. It got him away from my kids and all the other kids in the neighborhood."
And that's where Gibson finds comfort.
After the beating, and a brief stint in jail for failing to follow sex offender rules, court records show William Baldwin has moved to Seattle.
"I would hope that me doing this and going to jail would change something, change some kind of law, change something where people like him can't be standing around little kids you know what I mean?" Gibson said. "It's not right, it's not fair to the kids at all."
Gibson hopes she's to shorten her time with good behavior. ..News Source.. by Matt Markovich & KOMO Staff
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