You're flying a ship you're not experienced enough to use effectively, in an environment you don't fully understand.
Now think, do you really want to play a game where someone inexperienced can take a "top ship" and always beat someone very experienced in a low-to-mid-level ship? Or is it better, once you take a step back, to have experience count?
This wasn't "jerks picking on noobs". You flew out to a RES to get some combat action... and found it... but it exceeded your ability to handle and survive. That's all.
Don't blame the other side of the hostility equation. That's what happens when you engage in hostilities. This time, you lost.
It's not something to pin on the other party, calling them a "jerk", just because they are a human pilot beating you instead of an NPC pilot beating you.
[edit]The reason he won the engagement wasn't because of hull upgrades. It was because he used the tools available to him in combat, and you didn't. It's not his fault you didn't.
Ok, but to be fair to the OP, there's only so far you can take the "the guy who beat you was simply doing something the game mechanics allow you to do, therefore he wasn't being a " defence.
What we're really talking about is griefing. It happens in every single shared-universe game where PvP is permitted. It's not that the guy was cheating, or exploiting. The OP's issue is that the guy was murdering people for kicks. I don't think he's really saying anyone should be prevented from doing this. I think he's just saying the law should come down hard on you. There should be consequences which make mindless killing an unattractive career choice. You either agree with that or you don't, but surely you can see the argument that unabashed griefing puts a lot of people off MMOs (and thus, Open in ED)? Not only is it frustrating to arbitrarily and unexpectedly lose a few hours (or more) of progress, but it's also pretty immersion-breaking. The fear of being killed wherever you go, for sport, is not a particularly rewarding or enjoyable sense of risk vs reward. Getting pirated on a trading run? Fair enough. Taking the risk is part of the thrill. Getting killed so someone can make youtube videos of them ganking noobs in expensive ships? Not so much.