Mod Mobilian may come under question (or worse) for publishing the communications of the assumed identity Robyn Goodall with the person portraying themselves on Facebook as Stephen Nodine – so we thought an explanation is in order.

The writer behind Robyn Goodall makes no excuses for the fact that she goes after suspected perpetrators of domestic violence.

She has lost a child to domestic violence – so she has made its prevention her life’s goal.

She has not hidden her disgust at the fact that many people excuse domestic violence – that they do not consider it a crime when a wife or girlfriend has been beaten or killed.

That is – oh, that’s OK – she was his mistress – no big deal that he killed her.

This understandably arouses deep emotions for her since she has been touched personally by domestic violence and experienced difficulty in obtaining justice for her family member’s killer.

So she goes out of her way to show that perpetrators of domestic violence do not deserve some special treatment or sympathy.

She has already been contacted by apparent friends or defenders of Mr. Nodine, so we cannot criticize her for wanting to remain anonymous.  In time, the whole truth will come out.

In the case of the person portraying himself as Mr. Nodine on Facebook – her goal was to prove that he is a predator of women.  It is up to the reader to decide if she was successful.

If the reader is sympathetic with Mr. Nodine because of the means she used to accomplish this – that is their perogative. 

Mod Mobilian’s sympathies are with her, however.  Too many people in Mobile are ignoring evidence and defending Mr. Nodine exactly because it is a domestic violence case – and they have prior political, business, or social relations with Mr. Nodine.

Our opinion is that she was successful in displaying him as a slick, phony, sycophantic, womanizing, sociopathic predator with no remorse for his girlfriend’s death – be it suicide or murder.  But that is our opinion based on the communication.

We see it as no different than 60 minutes or other news shows where reporters or civilans portray customers to expose fraudulent businesses or portray constituents giving bribes to expose corrupt politicians.  Improper behavior can only be exposed by this technique in many cases.  She portrayed herself as an available woman to expose a predator.

We caution it is possible that the person portraying themselves as Stephen Nodine on Facebook is not the former Mobile County Commissioner, but evidence supporting the possiblility it is should be taken into account.

Mr. Nodine is charged with mudering a real person – somebody’s friend, sister or daughter. Many people are choosing to forget that.

Some think the whole thing is funny – nominating him for “Mobilian of the Year” for example.  They are stupid, sad excuses for human beings, to say the least.  The flippant attitude about this murder in parts of this community makes this exercise necessary. 

So we know we are opening ourselves up to criticism or worse – but we feel to expose our community to the truth behind domestic violence and it’s perpetrators – and this one in particular – is worth taking a stand and fighting for so justice may be served fairly. No one else is going to do it.