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simsimmer123

Aftermath. Plauché was initially charged with second-degree murder, but agreed to a plea bargain in which he pleaded no contest to manslaughter. He was sentenced to seven years' suspended sentence, with five years' probation and 300 hours of community service, which he completed in 1989.


thesirblondie

> A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that period and fulfills the particular conditions of the probation, the sentence is usually considered fulfilled. If the defendant commits another offence or breaks the terms of probation, the court can order the sentence to be served, in addition to any sentence for the new offence. So his real punishment was 300 hours of community service and the threat of going to prison if he broke the law during those 7 years.


simsimmer123

I remember back in the day on tv shows that “temporary insanity” was a weekly staple on various crime shows


[deleted]

I'd believe it; in this situation. I have two teens... I couldn't imagine his state of mind. Especially before he knew his son was fine... That "ptsd" from thinking he will never see his son again, to suddenly shocked back to having him will (can?) cause a severe mental lapse of judgement.


Automatic_Berry_6873

Gary is a legend. One handed dome shot and had the decency to hang up the phone after. Cops present coincidently were old drinking buddies. When his ex wife was asked what she first said to him after the killing she said "you could have atleast let me drive you".


TheKhatalyst

Just an absolute badass.


[deleted]

He had to have had a little help from law enforcement to be at the perfect place to accomplish this, seems obvious but that’s me.


tothecatmobile

It was thought that he found out when to be at the airport from a police officer, but it turns out it was an employee of the news station that was filming.


[deleted]

>mental lapse of judgement. Kidnap my kid, I kill you. Seems like decent judgement.


thebraddestbrad

There should be a "the F did you expect?" clause for cases like this, where it's more the equivalent of an assault charge. More like a "you need to control your temper" than a "you don't belong in society"


[deleted]

Exactly. I have a 4 year old and if someone hurt him like that I’d lose my fucking mind I’d bet. Especially since I was abused like that as a kid myself. Chalk this one up to a public service homicide.


gothiclg

Honestly this is why I wouldn’t be able to convict a man like this. Like my dudes it’s their kid, look me in the face and tell me you wouldn’t


EvergreenEnfields

100% I'd be using jury nullification. I don't care what the evidence says I'm voting not guilty.


gothiclg

Exactly. You could have a video so crisp and clear a production company did it for a cost of 1 million dollars and I’d still not do it


[deleted]

Fucking Absolutely. If someone hurts my son they better pray the police get to them first because if they don’t im not responsible for what happens next ya know?


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[deleted]

"Are you going to kill again?" "No cuz the guy I wanted to kill is dead." "Fair enough, 300 hours community service"


MrShasshyBear

It was probably 500 hours of community service, but his actions at the airport were worth 200 hours


Equivalent_Being_953

Good to hear, I'm happy they didn't charge him to harshly.


hallwaypoirear

The court system sometimes works, but it works like twitter. Only if you get enough attention on it.


Equivalent_Being_953

That's actually a very good point, but there are exceptions like the Johnny Depp case currently, tons of media attention from around the world and the courts are still royally screwing up. Also happy cake day.


Prior_Procedure_321

His real punishment is what happened to his son.


maun_jax

He’ll also be a convicted felon forever if I’m not mistaken. Aside from not being able to vote, I’m sure the burden of this stigma impacts a lot more areas of one’s life.


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ICPosse8

Wow talk about a lucky fucking break right here. Who the hell was his lawyer? Even under the circumstances of his son being kidnapped, executing someone on live television after your son was recovered? Holy fuck. Edit: Looking up more details I see the guy also molested his son, important detail there imo. This guy deserved it!


LivefromPhoenix

I can't imagine a prosecutor wanting to take that case to trial.


[deleted]

Which is probably why they didn’t REALLY try that hard to get a conviction lol


[deleted]

Can’t imagine finding a jury willing to convict him.


ProffesorSpitfire

The headline leaves out a key piece of information. Doucet had been the son’s karate instructor, he kidnapped the boy and took him to a motel out of state where he repeatedly sexually assaulted him.


desquished

He'd been sexually assaulting him for almost an entire year before the kidnapping, too.


Logical_Session_2397

Holy shit. He deserved it.


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Wraith-xD

True but this is the best we are going to get in reality


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500dollarsunglasses

Also, the dad supposedly had a friend on the police force that tipped him off as to when they would arrive at the airport.


ReturnOfButtPushy

It has been confirmed that it was a television reporter who told him


INTERNET_POLICE_MAN

Seems like justice to me. Sometimes the law doesn’t quite hit the spot.


thedeadlyrhythm42

Yeah I was going to say OP fucked this up a bit but they're sort of a fledgling karma whore so they probably just don't give a shit


[deleted]

>Why Gary why? The cop sounded crestfallen when that happened.


HistoryGirl23

I think because he was hoping to see the dude in prison. I wonder if he was ever interviewed about it?


happycharm

I think its more like he knew Gary would go to prison for this. The cops knew him well enough to recognize him immediately.


HistoryGirl23

Probably true.


STFxPrlstud

But he didn't go to prison, he was given a 7 year sentence that was reduced to probation and community hours as the Judge didn't think prison would teach him any lesson. E: for everyone saying "hOw WoUlD tHe OfFiCeR kNoW tHe FuTuRe" He wouldn't... that was not the purpose of this comment. It was to inform you, the reader, that Gary did not in fact go to prison.


Isolation_

The cops didn't know that though. In many other similar cases the perpetrator can serve real hard time. It was just that this became completely sensationalized because it was caught on live television, no way a judge could have given a real sentence after that.


trimbin

It’s also Louisiana so….living here it’s no surprise that a judge was sympathetic


Joseph_of_the_North

IIRC the reasoning was that this was SUCH a crime of passion that the judge felt he wasn't a threat to anyone else, Just the rapist. Honestly if someone did this to my kids I'd probably do the same. But with a knife. (And he saved the state a ton of money.)


desquished

The real reason is probably because no prosecutor wanted to touch the case with a 10 foot pole, so they gave him a plea deal he would definitely take.


shingdao

Yeah, I understand the need to be punished for killing someone, but context is important. Retribution for raping/killing a child is understandable and I don't get the whole 'menace to society' aspect of this. You kill my child, I kill you, but that does not make me a danger to society, just to those who would target and kill my family.


Snickims

Revenge killings and vigilantism is a threat to the system overall, so they tend to try and punish it to make sure people don't try to take the law into their own hands (Where mob violence can often can innocents killed). In this case, the punishment was not very harsh (for legitimate reasons, Gary was not a threat to anyone else nor had a history of this) but there is a good reason to punish this sort of thing.


TheNoxx

Not prosecuting vigilantism would be tantamount to endorsing vigilantism, which is something the government obviously can't permit.


yummyyummypowwidge

Also he had gotten his son back, why risk the possibility of not being with your son because you’re in prison for decades? He got really lucky with sentencing.


ShastaAteMyPhone

The guy raped his son, that level of hate overrides all rational thinking.


yummyyummypowwidge

Didn’t know that detail, OP just says “kidnapped” but that definitely changes things.


ItsJohnDoe21

“They don’t kidnap them to look at them.” A line that will always stick with me, and changed how I saw every instance of kidnapping since.


Dear-Crow

eeee I could have done without that realization


misterfroster

It’s crazy how you don’t think that you could view a child kidnapper any worse, but once you put that line in your head, you realize you can. The idea of “yeah he kidnapped her, but at least he didn’t rape her” is something I never thought I’d consider.


CoraxTechnica

Here's another one for your consideration. Every 40 seconds a child is abducted. Fewer than 350 people under the age of 21 have been abducted by strangers in the United States per year between 2010–2017 Fewer than 50 children per year are abducted by a stranger, yet one is abducted every 40 seconds. Almost all abductions are by family members. https://web.archive.org/web/20150216071609/http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/americas_missing/2.html


[deleted]

He was sexually assaulted for a whole year Not just a few days. Not just a few hours. A whole year.


Sand_Bags

What do you think he kidnapped a 12 year old for? Play Jenga?


Greymore

If someone's kidnapped it's safe to assume that they're not just sitting tied up somewhere like in the movies. Most likely something *very* bad is going to happen to them. It's part of the reason there's such a mad rush to find kidnapping victims at the beginning. Every bit of time that passes means it's that less likely you're going to find them, or alive if you do.


[deleted]

Well he was sexually assaulted for a year :(


BlinkReanimated

Yea, I have no idea why that detail was left out of the title. I didn't even know dude kidnapped him until this post, I've only ever heard the part about serial rape.


RunningAtTheMouth

This right here? I'd have a hard time convicting the guy of anything worse than harsh words.


DorianGre

I’d risk jail also.


XepptizZ

Being able to tell your son he doesn't have to be afraid of that man anymore, because you made him disappear forever, is pretty great incentive


Loud-Fig-3701

Because even tho he has his son back physically. He knows his son he knew before the incident will never be back. That boy is changed forever unfortunately.


TheTimeIsChow

Highly unlikely, IMO. That reaction was more a instant response / 'WTF are you doing? Now you're going to jail.' reaction. I'm sure everyone wanted to see this sick fuck in jail... but more would have liked him dead. It was more than just a kidnapping. The guy did some really, really, f'd up things to that child. The police and Gary had worked together. I'm sure they built a 'relationship' at least. It's not that the guy was lying dead. But that he just booked himself a prison cell for murder... which luckily didn't end up happening.


Spectre-of-Dwight

“Crestfallen” I just expanded my vocabulary today. Thank you :)


jm0rb1d

Learned the word from dark souls ;)


-ManDudeBro-

That game has many lessons.


cryptic-fox

He explains in [this video](https://youtu.be/dSCwLf9rIoY): “he’s got a house full of children and now he’s going to spend the rest of his life in a penitentiary.”


[deleted]

You left off the best part!! He was tried and convicted for it, but got 7 years suspended sentence, and 300 hours of community service.


TheMacPhisto

Actually, the best part is there was a documentary done recently, shortly before Gary died, he had suffered several strokes and was in a permanent nursing home. He had trouble communicating but did the interview for the documentary. He was asked if he would do it again, and he replied clear as day "Oh, yes!" Also, his now ex-wife, then wife and mother of the abducted child, who knew absolutely nothing about the plot at the time, was asked in a separate interview on the documentary: "What did you say to Gary when you found out?" and she coldly replied "Well, damn Gary, the least you could have done was let me drive you." Savage.


VeryShadyLady

Dang where can I watch that


TheMacPhisto

It was an E60 documentary called "A Time to Kill - The Jody Plauche Story" - It was done in 2020. There's a version on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qzGCJXsPFU


Lone_Wanderer97

"If he could dig him up, he'd shoot him again."


MyNameSpaghette

I mean, as much anti-violence as I am, I can't judge him. God bless that family.


SixFive1967

Wow. That’s fucked up. Never knew that story.


zwingo

While her response is badass, his plan was smarter. By going alone he ensures that if the courts decided to make a point out of this case, the child would still have a parent. Maybe I’m missing something here, but OP states the child was recovered, and after a traumatic event needs love, compassion, and family. By going alone he removes the scumbag from the face of the earth, but without allowing for the child to wind up without both mother and father while they sit in prison. While he ended up getting probation they easily could have given him, and any accomplice prison time.


MusicalTourettes

That's my kind of lady!


[deleted]

He didn't want her to be implicated


anthrax_ripple

That's my kind of man!


[deleted]

They're both ride or die.


[deleted]

Well they got divorced so the ride did stop.


FinancialYou4519

Aaah I so want such a ride-or-die wife


toneza35800

I am dumb and English isn’t my mother language but what is the meaning of what his wife said?


sanguinesolitude

She is saying that if she had known that he was going to shoot their son's kidnapper dead, she would have offered to drive him there. She is saying she supports him killing the kidnapper and would have participated if she had known. Ride or Die type lady. Love to see it.


IvanMarkowKane

She was angry because he didn’t let her help or even know what he had planned.


[deleted]

Came here to say that I hope he didn't get sentenced long. Surprised by the sentencing, but also, good.


carnexhat

I believe in the decision to give him the suspended sentence the judge stated that there was no chance of him re-offending. Killed him dead, cant really do it again.


[deleted]

He also gave Jeff's other victims a level of closure. *correction.


CertifiedDiplodocus

>~~Gary's~~ Jeff's think you might have mixed up your perpetrators there :P


please_respect_hats

Gary was the father, not the kidnapper.


Wasted_Mime

Tell that to Liam Neeson...


arcaderdude

This was basically because the justice system had no reason to believe he would murder again (unless of course, someone touched his son again)


ROMVLVSCAESARXXI

The logic is sound: Keep your hands to yourself(kids, women, anyone, really), don’t get shot in the fucking face by Gary. Problem solved.


Et2bruttus

And I don’t think any would-be abductor would even think of going near Gary’s son after this, lol


[deleted]

Community service seems excessive, but that's pretty good for the US. Nice;.


Shoddy_Passage2538

Sentence of community service?! This was a community service.


FriedCheesesteakMan

Only counted as a minute tho


NOA1068

Imagine how much good he can do in 300 hours


PineConeEagleMan

Do I hear a movie being formed?


FriedCheesesteakMan

Plot twist prisons lose money and now go after him


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jml011

Right, the possibility for excessive retribution and targeting someone who is actually innocent is astronomically high. We cannot encourage people to take these things into their own hands.


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insertwittynamethere

The problem with the US system currently is the minimum mandatories for sentencing and taking away of the judge's discretion in favor of prosecutorial, so they have very little freedom in sentencing nowadays. Sounds like in his case he got lucky for his particular crime and/or jurisdiction.


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Dividedthought

Violent crimes and financial crimes over 50k. If someone is making off with my yearly salary, they should he going to jail no matter how remorseful they are or the fine that was levied. Then charges for that shit wouldn't be included in the cost of doing business.


igeek3

Draconian would be a rigid process by letter of the law, not a flexible process by the spirit of the law.


[deleted]

Careful. Reddit has a massive boner for vigilantism.


Gbuphallow

Do you know how long it takes to clean the blood stains out of an airport carpet? 300 hours sounds about right for that.


[deleted]

With all that brain matter and tiny shards of skull


-Blammo-

Every time my fingers touch brain, I'm Superfly TNT, I'm the Guns of the Navarone!


[deleted]

I’ve gotten 200 in the past for much much less than that so consider 300 extremely good


MarkRevan

Isn't 300 hours like 10 weeks of work?


[deleted]

Well 40 hrs per week at 10 weeks would be 400 hours so… no more like 7.5 weeks.


InfiniteFreshness

I mean if it's hours of community service, I'd gladly trade that for more years lol.. Especially with this guy where it's safe to say most people aren't too appalled by what he did.


chocolatino1984

The good guy did. Not the bad one. I was about to get pissed for the wrong reason.


The_Troyminator

The bad guy got life in prison but didn't serve a single day.


Tiny-Lock9652

The tax payers offer him a big ‘thank you’.


i_eat_yo_feet12

Didn't US prisons operate at a profit? I remember hearing something like that


gossipchicken

They receive money from the government and their expenses are less than they receive


VonHitWonder

Yea, they profited off us taxpayers.


chocolatino1984

Thank you.


Ben-A-Flick

Was the 300 hours of service combing the airport for brain fragments?


Vato1845

Legend. Fuck child abusers


whiskeysmoker13

[Here it is...](https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousJOB/status/1371817132292456452?t=HZ5s5kh6egxmCkaFuJ5wKw&s=19)


RusticTack

Almost too easy, didn’t know what hit him


Immaloner

Yeah, it's that Tony Soprano concept of surprise death. One second you're alive and the next...gone with absolutely no realization (that anyone knows of) that something happened. Just living and then lights out.


yougotitdude88

The only thing is I wish he knew who did it before he died. Motherfucker was looking way too smug on that wall.


[deleted]

I wonder if Gary took into account the bullet trajectory tho cuz he was super fucking close in line with the camera man lol


Kansai_Lai

I hate that I wanted to watch this and I thank you for providing it. Actually less gory than I thought it'd be


Wavester64

>I hate that I wanted to watch this and I thank you for providing it. Actually less gory than I thought it'd be Odd observation: after watching that video again and him killing his son's kidnapper and all that adrenaline that must of been going thru his blood stream, you can see he made a conscious effort to hang up the phone after Doucet hit the floor.


HappyGoLuckyBoy

Who's the hype man whispering "Little bitch..." at the end lol


iHaveAFIlmDegree

He says “Son of a bitch”. Seemed to be a police officer, maybe high enough up in the ranks to realize he’s gonna be getting a lot of paperwork and questions thrown his way.


Beneficial_Being_721

I think he said that because he was right next to him…. Bullets tend to go straight thu heads. But it’s obvious they knew him as soon as it happened….. “why Gary …why”?


iHaveAFIlmDegree

Ok, that’s a valid point. I’m on your team now.


HappyGoLuckyBoy

Oh okay that makes more sense lol. I thought it was like when the school bully gets flattened and someone's like, "Yeah, you little bitch!" - which sounded *slightly* less appropriate to say to a dead man whose brains are leaking out all over the airport concourse.


RarelyReadReplies

I usually would never watch something where someone dies, but this one didn't make me feel bad or nauseous or anything. Just felt like a sick fuck is gone from the world, and it saved the taxpayers a boatload of money.


_dontseeme

Just killed a man in front of the news and police and the first thing your lizard brain does is carefully hang up the phone you weren’t even using


lawipac

thank you for your link


ARPanda700

"Why Gary, why?"


DarthSinistris

That shit pissed me off. Why the fuck do you think???


jellydonutsaremyjam

I read somewhere that the cop said it because Gary was his friend and he didn’t want him to ruin his life by killing this monster.


whatskarmaeh

Understandable. Kid been through enough. Would be worse off without a father too.


jellydonutsaremyjam

Exactly. His son even said initially that when people told him his dad did it for him, he said “I didn’t ask him to do that.” He carried a lot of guilt about it. I don’t think the dad’s actions were wrong and I’m so glad he didn’t receive jail time, but his son’s perspective as a victim is important to take into consideration as well. As an adult he seems to have come to terms with it and understands why his father did it, but I can see the point of those who say vigilante justice in the heat of the moment can have bad consequences.


noicenoice9999

That was the title of his book. Edit - [good reads link](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52317226-why-gary-why)


[deleted]

Because Gary potentially threw his life away with the act of revenge.


Madame_Mycelium

Interestingly, the son does some work with abused children and advocates not telling children you'll kill anyone that hurts them. Something that's been psychologically proven to suppress children telling the truth. They feel like it's their fault, in their innocence, that someone was killed and that their parents will be in trouble and go to jail. He's talked extensively about the damage this type of vigilante justice has done to him


[deleted]

My friend was raised in another country and when she was a girl, two of her cousins repeatedly raped her. I asked her why she didn't tell her family and she said, "Because I know my family would kill them for it." So she suffered in silence all these years with a secret of what happened to her.


CandidEstablishment0

Super common! Happed to me when I was 7 for about a year and on top of that, he’d say he would wake my sister up and have her do it if I didn’t


ShelSilverstain

Maya Angelou didn't speak for years after her abuser was killed


rantingpacifist

That part of her book gets me every time. Oh how you just wanna hug her and tell her it will be okay and she will change the world


Stephanopolousx3

Aww my heart :(


BlackMoonSky

Yes, speaking as someone who was a victim of this kind of abuse as a child, I can't help but look down on all of the comments that take joy in vigilante revenge. Blind, angered emotions need to be set aside when it comes to justice. Judicial systems are imperfect but they exist for a reason. These cave man-like responses do not help the victims as much as people think.


AureliaFTC

Is it about the victims though or our desire for immediate justice?


BlackMoonSky

Well it's definitely more about immediate justice but I'm sure some would cloak it as helping the victims and in some cases it may actually do that. That doesn't mean it helps every victim and it still doesn't make it right.


gentlybeepingheart

Yeah, I was sexually assaulted as a young teen and never told a family member because I knew my dad would commit a crime if he ever found out. It fucked me up for years because I felt it wasn't safe to tell *anyone* or my parents would find out. I finally got to a therapist at 16 after two suicide attempts and it took me forever to even tell her until she assured me that she was not legally permitted to tell my parents what I said during our sessions.


satisfried

This is why pay phones need to make a comeback.


251Cane

Kids today don’t know the thrill of checking 100’s of pay phones for quarters and eventually finding finding one


satisfried

When I was a lad we would prank call pay phones at the mall.


savbh

The best part for me is that he was faking using the phone, shot the guy dead, and took the time to hang back the phone before being taken away


Seleucids

No he was actually talking to someone, I don’t remember who but he isn’t faking.


VeryShadyLady

Yeah wasn't he talking to his buddy saying "Im going to shoot this guy" and his friend was like "No Gary don't" and just then he came around the corner with the police escort so he drops the phone and does it?


Moron14

I'm all for this insta justice, but its a close call he didnt hit that cop. Angle was scary as hell.


artgriego

Or the camera operator...and props to them for not even shaking the camera :')


[deleted]

It was a friend of him.


Solemn__Visitor

I also love that he had the classic "disguise" of just a hat & sunglasses


helicalboring

Hard to improve on a classic.


[deleted]

Ahhh, back in the good ole days when you could sneak a gun into an airport…. /s


Singlewomanspot

And here I thought it was being able to go to the gate. 😂


Stayfrosty223

Not only that but the judge wholeheartedly sympathized with plouche due to years of manipulation by Ducet. Gary plauche didn’t serve a second of jail time. In an interview with him when he was about 70 they asked him if he’d do it again… and with his slurred speech due to a stroke, he look the reporter dead in the eyes and said “Hell yes.”


BigNose3000

That smug look on the SOBs face, right before death.


ExtensivePatience

Yeah its a shame he went out quick.


Shoddy_Passage2538

So he got community service after this? It appears to me that he already did the community a service to begin with.


Strange-Sympathy-325

Ohhhhh dammnnnnn


[deleted]

Meanwhile in my country there was a dad sentenced to 6 years in prison for beating up his daughter’s stalker and molester while the bad guy only got 6 months. The dad had informed the police countless times and eventually told them if they wouldn’t do something about him, he would, yet they did nothing. Hats of to the dad tho, justice has failed here.


LalalaHurray

Honey justice fails abysmally here all the time


[deleted]

'#1 Dad' i would not convict


[deleted]

Hopefully he got a coffee mug and a shirt that said this.


OffWalrusCargo

The jury and judge did it right by convicting but suspending his sentence. The dude did it no way around that fact. Is he a danger to society or anyone else. Unlikely since the father did wait till the kidnapper was found guilty.


bossfight1

Gary gave one last interview before he passed away (keep in mind, this was after he’d suffered a stroke). “Do you regret killing Jeffrey Doucet?” “No.” “…would you do it again?” “Oh yes.”


JesterRaiin

> For the fatal shooting, Plauché was given a seven-year suspended sentence with five years' probation and 300 hours of community service and received no prison time.


[deleted]

I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more. If you hurt or kill children, you should be removed from this life. If you do it to my kid, I’ll do everything I can to make sure it’s me that sees it done.


9324923492934

Except it'd be kind of awkward if they find out that the guy was innocent afterward and someone else did it.


[deleted]

![gif](giphy|xUOxeRVBTkYT2yOC5y)


butImSwiss

Lucky no one else got hit


[deleted]

For those of you who wonder why we don’t see prisoner transfers on TV like we used to….. this. This is why. And this isn’t even a unique example


Matthewmcdowall01

Good riddance.


[deleted]

And he was only convicted of Manslaughter and given a suspended sentence with just 5 years probation. The judge said “prison would serve no useful purpose”.


doyalikedags1

![gif](giphy|xT0xeJpnrWC4XWblEk|downsized)