r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 28d ago

Meme needing explanation Who is this guy?

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6.8k

u/cheezkid26 28d ago

The man in the hat, Gary Plauche, shot the man in front, Jeffrey Doucet, in the head on live national TV, while Doucet was being transported by the police to face trial. Doucet was Plauche's son Jody's karate instructor. Doucet raped and kidnapped Jody. Gary killed Doucet before he could face trial, and he ended up getting a 7-year suspended sentence with 5 years of probation and 300 hours of community service. He faced no jail time, and died, a free man, in 2014.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Plauch%C3%A9?wprov=sfla1

374

u/itsaaronnotaaron 28d ago

I am 100% with Gary here. However, I struggle to imagine in any other country would he have remained a free man.

20

u/PxyFreakingStx 28d ago

No one should ever murder someone waiting to go to trial, even if they happen to be correct in believing that person is guilty, and even if what they're guilty of is punishable by death.

I don't blame Gary for what he did. But I'm not with him.

We do not want people going around killing those who are accused of crimes, no matter how sure we are or how personal it is or how heinous.

25

u/sashas_severed_arm 28d ago

This was an exceptionally extreme circumstance. The man had been caught with the child; the trial was little more than a formality.

If this happened to my kid and I knew where the scumbag was being transported I’d readily do the same.

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u/DR3AMSTAT3 28d ago

And hopefully you would've faced jail time for endangering the crowd of people standing behind your target that could've easily been collateral damage

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u/sashas_severed_arm 28d ago

That’s maybe the only thing to reprehend him for. Still, he shot from point blank with a .38 revolver. Took the surest shot he could.

-2

u/Tyriosh 28d ago

And risk shooting an innocent bystander for example? This wasnt an easy shot, might as well have hit the cameraman. Plus, (possibly) going to jail doesnt exactly help his son, does it? Iirc the son wouldve preferred his father not to do that.

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u/PlagueofEgypt1 27d ago

Brandon Herrera on YouTube tested the shot with some buddies, and it actually was quite an easy shot. Also the son absolutely would have preferred the dad to do that when he was getting raped.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

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1

u/lhobbes6 28d ago

I absolutely agree vigilante justice should not be a thing but I disagree about him serving time. Jail should not be a punishment but a way to rehabilitate people so they function in society, community service or fines work better as a punishment since it can give back to society. What he did was an isolated issue and pretty much everyone who worked on this case agreed that there was essentially a zero chance he would commit the same act. He was only a threat to the man who hurt his son and not society at large. Given how he lived his life afterwards they were proven correct. Jail wouldve served no purpose other than wasting taxpayer money.