I agree completely: sometimes it's easier to kill a person than to prosecute. It reminds me of when I was studying karate. Since we were practicing all these techniques to damage and potentially kill people, I was reading up a bit on the laws of self-defense. These laws are vague, to say the least. In frustration, I asked my instructor about it.

He replied, "Do whatever you think you need to do to get out of danger, and worry about the legalities later."

However, the other thing that I learned karate is to assess my strengths and the real danger of the situation.