Elena Starr "Ellie" Nesler (August 2, 1952 – December 26, 2008)[1] shot and killed her son's accused molester in a Jamestown, California, courtroom during the preliminary hearing on the charges against him. She served 3 years of a 10-year sentence and was released after an appeal based on jury misconduct. Rather than opting for a retrial, she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was paroled with time served. She later went back to prison after a conviction on drug charges, for which she served more than 3 years. During her first term in prison, she developed breast cancer, which ultimately caused her death in 2008 at the age of 56.
Nesler made headlines when she killed Daniel Driver, the man accused of molesting four boys (including her then-6-year-old son, William) in 1993, in the courtroom of the Jamestown Justice Court. She fired five shots into Driver's head, killing him instantly. In 2002, she was convicted of selling and possessing methamphetamine. She was released from a woman's facility near Chowchilla, California in 2006.[2]