I’m not a lawyer but I doubt the ‘police incompetence demanded vigilantism’ plea will hold up in court.
Police incompetence would most likely prevent any court action happening.
The entire force was looking for Malvo and was convinced that he was extremely dangerous. They even locked up the police station for fear that he would show up.
They believed that he killed one of their own and numerous others in their town and Las Vegas. I doubt that they would even take the time to figure out all of the particulars about the last minutes of Malvo’s life.
Throw in the additional evidence discovered after the fact (the tapes / two dead FBI guys at Lester’s house where the bear trap obviously chewed up Malvo’s leg) and it’s pretty easy to see that all of the cops we’re relieved that they didn’t have to face Malvo.
I suspect only one of the cops would even try to figure out what went down and she was married to guy who shot Malvo.
Where did Gus get the gun? I doubt if mail carriers usually have one in their cars.
Was anybody else expecting to see a chipper next to the pile? 
Many people seem to be missing the point that a case won’t go to court unless someone decides to prosecute it.
It’s not hard to imagine that it was his personal weapon.
It’s likely his, he was a cop. But keep in mind that his wife is a deputy and his FIL is an ex-cop. I’d guess that there’s plenty of guns in the house. Hell, the kid had a BB gun that she seemed pretty comfortable with, though she did have it pointing right at Grandpa at one point. Also, they live in a rural enough area that guns aren’t thought of as scary like they are in other places. Also, even if he didn’t carry one on his route, he was scared for his life when he was on his way to see Molly so it’s possible he grabbed it specifically for protection against Malvo in this case.
Because Gus was a good post man he noticed different car, the red BMW, in the driveway on his route.
And for you guys who don’t think that Gus was a good cop, he was the best of the bunch in Duluth.
I think he went into the house and found one of Malvo’s many guns. Malvo’s mistake, he doesn’t make many, was not noticing it was missing.
Notice how the deer in the first episode sent Malvo to the hospital. Notice how the wolf pointed Gus to the right house and how the wolf looked in on Malvo prior to Malvo trying to set the leg. Nature itself was trying to kill Malvo.
Right, as I posted before, Molly had a great hunch, but crappy evidence against Lester.
And honestly, Gus did the right thing. Call in the Police? That bunch of donut-eating ticket writing locals who even their Chief said couldn’t shoot a tin can off a fence post? Malvo would eat them like cornflakes. No, Gus did the right thing, the only thing.
Anything else would risk the lives of more cops- not to mention Molly, his daughter and his father-in-law.
Gus got the gun from the bag of guns Malvo had.
If Gus had tried to arrest Malvo that first time, we’d just have a dead Gus.
I’m pretty sure that he heard the announcement that Malvo was seen driving a red BMW. So it wasn’t just the presence of a strange car in front of that house, but specifically the red BMW.
MySpace, then?
Did we see enough of the Duluth cops in action to make that judgement? I thougt it was mostly him and the chief, with the others as background.
In Malvo’s defense, He can limping in with a broken leg, dumped his stuff, grabbed the medical bag and set the bone. I don’t know if he would have noticed much out of his direct line of sight.
The tapes would only be admissible if Malvo were alive to testify as to when and how they were made. With him dead, the tapes are dead also. No way to legally authenticate them.
Doesn’t really matter that much, few cases ever go to trial. Just bring someone in, play the tape, offer a plea bargain, and viola!
Not to mention they could put detectives on the trail. Know who committed a murder is critical, gathering evidence is much easier after that.
I can’t help wishing that the “this is a true story” bit were actually the case–we could look up what happened to Gus.
But there must be some statistics on legal-system responses to vigilante actions; when I have some time I plan to take a look. Fiction *loves *vigilantes, of course–but real life tends to display a bit of skepticism about the value of taking the law into one’s own hands.
I noticed that, too, and wondered if a point were being made (versus it being an accident of filming).
They are an admission against interest by all the parties on them. I would think. Maybe a criminal lawyer would be of some assistance here, but I would certainly expect to be able to get it in against Lester in a civil wrongful death suit.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Do we know for sure it was a bb gun? Maybe it was a 22 rifle which would have been more typical for someone her age in Minnesota
A .22 would do a lot more than ‘put his eye out’. Living in a rural area and having all those cops in her life, I’m sure she’s done some plinking, but she said "I’ll put his eye you, you can finish him off’.
Even if it was a .22, would it make a difference?
Well that was a little disappointing, specially Lester’s fate.