Should I draw the line?
 

The story goes like this:
A friend went through a nasty breakup some time ago. She, along with her now ex-boyfriend also happen to be fellow students of mine and we all ended up in the same group for a long-running software project (which is still in its infant stages). There were initial worries regarding this combination, but for a while it worked out very well.

Until a few days ago, when the guy had a bad day, too much to drink, both or Idontknowwhat. He assaulted the girl's new b/f in a club, made grave insults and threats directed at both of them and went on to terrorize them for hours through an apartment door which he eventually damaged with a brick. I'm still surprised the cops only took his name, address and such.

While I'm glad that nobody was seriously harmed that night, there is still trouble ahead regarding aforementioned software project, as one person certainly has to leave after this episode. The brick-guy has been somewhat of a driving force so far and is arguably more skilled in coding than my friend. So from a purely productive standpoint it would probably make sense to ask her to leave. I greatly dislike this option, since at this point, switching to another group could be difficult, so it would be like punishing her for a mess someone else has caused. Not to mention I loathe the thought of closely working with that psycho for over half a year.

As you can see, it's a bit of a dilemma. So, what would your advise for me be, regarding what position I should ultimately take and how I could approach the others with it (including some who don't know anything about these specific circumstances)?

And of course, similar experiences and how they turned out are very welcome as well. :)

I don't think you should kick the girl out because her ex is an asshole. Let them deal with it, and, if they start causing problems while working on the project, sit them both down and say that it is unacceptable.

The altercation had nothing at all to do with your software project. The simple matter is, do you want to associate with this kind of guy? He might do something like this again, are you comfortable with that, even if you were no longer working with your friend?

Ditch the asshat guy. If he did this once he'll probably do it again, and then you might wind up losing him to other causes. Team synergy is also an important thing in group projects, and if you'll feel uncomfortable working with him through the rest of the project you'd be better off sticking with the girl, even if she isn't necessarily as talented.

He's an asshole, and there's no doubt about that....

But if you want to talk about production, you have to realize that working closely with someone that you loathe and despise will only hurt production, regardless of how good of a programmer he is. Not to mention the health problems that you might develop while working with someone that will only raise your blood pressure, considering that you will be working with him for months on end.....

If it's possible for you to somehow get rid of this guy and work with your friend, do what's necessary.

Something similar happened to me on a project of other sorts and it wound up one of the parties having to leave. The guilty party leaves, simple as that, have you considered the angle that if you kick her out it could have a horribly negative effect on your friendship too? The project will be more difficult to finish but it'll be alot less trouble for you

I would ditch the dude.

He's probably not going to be around much longer anyways.

Well, she's actually made remarks along the lines of "well, he's more skilled than me anyway and if he has to leave, he'll take it out on me again...". Sounds great huh?

So before too much time goes by and that line of thought gets the better of her, I've made arrangements for a group meeting next week, with everyone present but brick-guy. There I will suggest exactly what pretty much everyone has suggested: He fucked it up, he'll deal with the consequences.

Thx for your advise so far, I'll keep you guys posted.

Advice threads go in Angst~