Don't totally agree with that rationale but it doesn't have to be my way to be right; makes sense from the domestic and international political standpoints.

You do understand that most of us here are or were not arguing that Ayala is innocent and / or that prosecution is unjust? No one's trying to subvert the law, all that most were doing was expressing some sympathy for his apparent action and the provocation that triggered it.

That is based, in my case at least, on having watched a number of forced non-responses to provocation and to discovering that people vary on how many times they can suppress an instinctive urge to resist or retaliate to extreme provocation. It would be nice if all people were perfect and could not be so overloaded with violence triggers that they finally override their training and sense of right and wrong and make a bad mistake. Unfortunately, no one is perfect. We all have different break points. Someone apparently found Ayala's.