Apparently it isn’t much of a defense. It failed. Of course I am not familiar with the particulars of the case, but the defense seemed a bit suspect to me.
He could have as easily turned the predator in to authorities.
Well, I personally never thought it would be too much of a defense, even when hearing that certain FReepers would kill someone like that on sight. I thought we did away with vigilante justice a long time ago and that we are supposed to be a nation of laws. It just seems peculiar to me, that (on the one hand), FReepers want to uphold the Constitution and maintain that we are a nation of laws, while (on the other hand) being willing to engage in vigilante justice, having pre-determined the guilt or innocence of a person apart from the mechanisms of our legal system and the Constitution. It just seems odd to me...