Ellie Nesler's family buries their hero in Angels Camp

ANGELS CAMP -- On a rainy Friday afternoon, Ellie Nesler's family talked of how her spirit shone through gloomy times.

About 50 people turned out for the funeral of a woman best known for the courtroom killing of the man accused of molesting her son.

"Ellie had a good heart -- she really did," family friend Diane Morrow said. "She was a lion, and she was a lamb."

Nesler, 56, died of cancer Dec. 26 at a Sacramento hospital. She had been diagnosed in 1993, shortly after she was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of Daniel Driver during his preliminary hearing in Jamestown.

The act thrust Nesler, then a Sonora resident, into the national spotlight and sparked a debate about vigilante justice.

Support for Nesler waned after prosecutors said she had used methamphetamine shortly before the killing. She later served a second prison term for a drug conviction not related to the 1993 shooting.

Friday, family members said the media reports did not convey the real Nesler. They remembered a smart, passionate woman who once faced down a childhood bully and later accompanied her then-husband on a gold-mining venture to Africa.

"What you've seen in the headlines, that was not my sister," said Marrietta Adams.

The funeral took place at the family plot in Altaville Protestant Cemetery, amid mud left by the steady rain. Two Sacramento television crews -- not quite the media horde that followed Nesler's court proceedings 15 years ago -- turned out.

In front of the lectern was a collage of photographs, most of them snapshots of a beaming Nesler with her family. The only exception was a Modesto Bee photo from her 1993 arraignment, when she wore a jail jumpsuit and a worried look on her face.

People at the funeral talked of Nesler's struggle with cancer and with the imprisonment of her son, William Nesler, for the 2004 murder of David Davis at the family home in Tuolumne County.

"Her life was completely fulfilling," daughter Rebecca Nesler said. "Only in the last 10 years did she have a heavy heart."

William Nesler, who is serving a term of 25 years to life at High Desert State Prison near Susanville, did not attend the funeral.

Cassie Delucca, a niece who lives in Los Angeles, also spoke of Ellie Nesler's strength.

"That is heroism," she said. "That is Ellie. To her son, Willy, to her daughter, Rebecca, and to everyone who knew her, she was a hero."

Another sister, Jan Starr, had accompanied Nesler to the Jamestown courtroom on that fateful day in 1993. Starr, whose last name was Martinez at the time, said Friday that her sister's case helped bring about increased penalties for molestation.

"Was she a hero?" Starr asked. "You betcha."

Bee staff writer John Holland can be reached at jholland@modbee.com or 578-2385.

This story was originally published January 2, 2009 at 10:48 PM with the headline "Ellie Nesler's family buries their hero in Angels Camp."