Everyone on DU is expert at something.

[allegorical oracle]

37. Given that I'm an old reader who has corrected many student papers, I feel qualified to say that

people don't write like they speak. Especially if they're trying to impress a specific reader (his romantic partner? law enforcement?).

This young man seems emotionally repressed -- living at home until a relatively mature age -- yet he remains immature, stunted, and perhaps romantically involved for the first time in his life. His desire to please seems to dominate his thought process -- but his personal situation evolved to resentment when he perceived that his partner was being demeaned.

He made a deliberate move to protect someone for whom he cared. And after that unfortunate decision, he turned himself in. This is a case, for me, of "it is what it is". Patently straightforward. And it wouldn't be the first time that some wag would point out that being in love is a form of insanity. He will pay a dear price...as did Kirk. Because words matter.