No Mercy

"For five years, from the time he was 11 until he was 16, Craig was victimized by [his stepfather]," says Fran Chapman. "From that time until the present, he has been victimized by the state of Texas."

Bill Saban doesn't see it that way. Saban is the assistant district attorney in Rusk County who prosecuted Craig Galloway. He doesn't buy Galloway's claim of sexual abuse, describing it as just a way for Galloway "to take another bite at the apple." And, adds Saban, even if Galloway's accusations about his stepfather are true, Galloway still had no right to "assassinate" him. The bottom line, says Saban, is that there is no need for the law.

"To me the law has got built-in protections," says the prosecutor. "That's why we try the cases. That's why we have juries. That's why we have defenses. If this happened, it ought to be part of the defense. You shouldn't second-guess the jury. The facts were presented to a jury, not this board. They heard all the evidence -- about three days worth of it. Now you've got a board that's going to second-guess them. It doesn't make sense to me."

But many people believed the law did make sense, and that at least some of the victims who felt they had no choice but to take up arms against the abuse they suffered deserve some form of mercy from the state. State Senator John Whitmire of Houston plans to hold hearings early in the session to examine the status of the law.

"There are so many women, some of them kids, that are in prison due to domestic violence," says Rebecca Wardlow. "Nobody wants to admit it's an epidemic.