No one can read George Weller's mind. He is the 89-year-old man whom jurors convicted recently for manslaughter as he drove his car into dozens of people at the Santa Monica farmer's market. Unable to know his motivations definitively, the jurors judged him to be guilty of making "wrong choices" when he drove into the throng.
Indeed, no one can read Weller's mind but his face, ornary and cantankerous, tells the story of a man who, caught up in a hit and run, allowed his violent, until then dormant, passions to unleash and vented all his consolidated frustrations and rage on those poor innocent people. True or not, this narrative resonates with many of us who see in Weller's demeanor an unrepentant anger and hostility for humanity. Whatever facts were examined, Weller's visage tells a narrative of hate and killing so that, fair or not, he is looked upon as guilty.
I was punished in kindergarten for a far lesser crime, stepping on a classmate's fingers as he climbed below me on the playground jungle gym. He cried and told the yard duty teacher what I had done and I claimed it was an accident. I was a liar. Seeing his hands below me, I saw this as an opportunity to do something naughty and so I stepped on his hand and then claimed I had made an innocent misstep. I was forced to stand by myself in the "detention zone" for an hour. The yard duty teacher had caught me in a lie. I deserved to be punished. This is how many feel about George Weller. He is looked upon as a man who tried to play innocent after the tragedy when in fact he had bloodlust in his veins.
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