Family Defends Slaying of Accused Molester

JAMESTOWN, Calif. — Family members of a woman arrested for shooting to death a man accused of molesting her son defended the courtroom slaying, saying the mother was simply protecting her son.

“It’s like how do you protect your kid?” asked Marrietta Adams, 37, the younger sister of Ellie Nesler. “What’s a mother going to do?”

Nesler was being led to the witness stand during a court recess Friday when she pulled out a handgun and shot Daniel Driver, said Tuolumne County Assistant Sheriff Mike Costa.

Driver, who was standing at the defense table, was hit in the back of the head at least once, Costa said. Driver died at a hospital less than an hour later.

Driver, 35, was charged with molesting several boys between July, 1986, and September, 1988, when he was working at a church camp in the Sierra Nevada. He had a conviction for child molestation, said acting Dist. Atty. Michael Knowles.

Nesler’s son, now 11, was one of the alleged victims in the case, Costa said.