It's somewhat strange that the ones who most vehemently "defend" their children are oft ones who have a Police record of child-neglect.
Take this for example:
About eight to ten years ago, there was this old man who "exposed" himself to some children who were innocently walking past his house on their way home late one summer night.
They go home, tell their Mother (and her boyfriend) about the incident, and so she decides that the two of them would go investigate further; confront and tell-off this old man if necessary. Perhaps even call the Police on him.
In the process of their interrogation, the old man becomes rendered unconscious; so they abandon that tack (and the old man's house) and the woman shows-up on her ex-husband's doorstep in terror (and covered with the old man's blood), telling him "Hide me, I think I just killed someone!".
Not wanting to have anything to do with THIS potential Prison Sentence, he wisely calls-in the Gendarmes.
Turns out, the old man dies due to the savage beating he received at the hand of the woman and her boyfriend, and further turns-out it's all over nothing: Upon questioning the children, the Police find-out that, in fact, the children were harassing the old man late at night (roughly 11:30pm) in his home. Naturally, he yelled at them to get away and go home but he neglected to put his shirt on (he was otherwise dressed) before chasing-off a couple of prowlers (from his own home).
The woman and B.F. didn't go over to the old man's house just to talk loudly: they took a couple of "exclamation points" along with them (in the form of ballbats) and broke-down the old man's screen door to get into his house, beat the hell out of him, then left him lying on his living-room floor in a pool of blood, skull crushed-in.
At the Trial, it was further-revealed that the woman had many calls to Police and charges levied against her for Child Endangerment, Child Neglect, etc. She was in danger of losing the children entirely to her ex, and was embroiled in a court battle with him.
Incredibly, the jury - after hearing all the facts of the case, including a confession from the woman and testimony from the ex-husband and boyfriend (who plea-bargained), was initially STILL unable to render a verdict: One woman-juror believed that the defendant was Justified in committing the crime of Murder as "she was only defending her children". The juror also revealed that she was unable to properly set-aside her emotions for her own children in this case, and could not render a verdict based on the facts.
After substitution of an alternate juror, and further hearing of the case, the verdict was Guilty of Murder in the 2nd-degree.
I can't remember the sentence. It wasn't particularly heavy, the convict may already be walking the streets.
