Emotions vs. Law

It is amazing what we can accomplish when we are faced with difficult circumstances. Although at times we may be shy, exhausted, or have everything pointed against us, when the important things in our lives are at risk we can go to great lengths to protect our interests. In the extreme cases of Ms. Ball Ground, Mari Carmen Garcia, and Laquita Calhoun, when their daughters were raped and they were faced by the attackers themselves, they managed to muster the confidence to protect their children and kill their attacker. The discussion is not wether of not you could kill someone in a stressful situation, but rather, are our actions justified during situations like these? Is reacting because of emotion the same thing as reacting out of protection? In the case of Mari Carmen Garcia, "Seven years after her 13 year old daughter was raped at knifepoint on her way to buy a loaf of bread, [...]Mari Carmen Garcia encountered her 13 year old daughter's assailant while he was out on a three-day pass from prison. "How's your daughter?" he taunted before heading in to a local bar. A short time later, Ms. Garcia walked into bar and, without saying a word, poured a bottle of gasoline on the convicted rapist and set him on fire; he died 11 days later." Although Mari was sentenced to 9 ½ years I prison, she was pardoned this year after a petition with over 5000 signatures was submitted to authorities and only served a total of 1 year and 10 days in prison. We can all understand where her emotions had brought her, but can we justify bending the law to our emotions? It makes sense that the government should be in place to protect its people; the better interests of its people, but I don't think she had the right to end someone else's life because of her will. When the majority of us justified this behavior, in the case of romantic disputes, where lovers had killed one another due to infidelity, or the "other lover" involved, why is this not the same case where it is understandable and justifiable? What is the line between social norm and our emotional reactions?