NEW JERSEY: Lawmaker Introduces Bill To Ban "Gay Panic" Defense

Gay New Jersey Assemblyman Tim Eustace has introduced a bill that would ban the use of the "gay panic" defense.

Under New Jersey law, a defendant can be charged with manslaughter – a lesser charge than murder – if, among other things, the crime “is committed in the heat of passion resulting from a reasonable provocation.” Eustace’s bill states that that a provocation can not be interpreted as reasonable if it is based on “the discovery of, knowledge about, or potential disclosure of the homicide victim’s actual or perceived gender identity or expression,” including “circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted, non-forcible romantic or sexual advance toward the actor, or if the victim and actor dated or had a romantic or sexual relationship.”

Earlier this year California became the first state to institute such a ban.

CALIFORNIA: Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Bill Banning "Gay Panic" Defense

The bill also bans "transgender panic" as a valid defense for violent crimes. California is the first state to enact such a ban.

CALIFORNIA: Bill To Ban "Gay Panic" Defense Awaits Signature Of Governor

California should soon become the first state to ban the so-called "gay panic" defense in violent crimes against LGBT citizens.

A bill awaiting Brown’s approval would prohibit the use of the defense — the argument that a violent act was triggered by the revelation of a victim’s actual or perceived gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation — in an attempt to downgrade a murder charge to manslaughter. It passed in the state Assembly last week by a 58 to 15 vote, and before that in the Senate with a vote of 25 to 9. That the nation’s most populous state could soon ban the defense is a win for the National LGBT Bar Association, an association of legal professionals, students and affiliated groups that has been working to minimize the use of the defense for a decade, said Executive Director D’Arcy Kemnitz. “But it’s going to be meaningful when we pass it in Wyoming where Matthew Shepard was murdered,” too, she said, noting that each state matters. The LGBT Bar Association and Equality California, an advocacy organization, both say the law would be the nation’s first.

(Tipped by JMG reader Todd)

Bar Association Group Issues Resolution Against Gay & Trans "Panic" Defenses

Via press release:

The National LGBT Bar Association applauds the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section for taking up a resolution to protect victims of so called gay and trans “panic” legal defenses. The resolution supports the LGBT community by no longer allowing defense attorneys to use victims’ identities or their sexual orientation against them in court.

“This resolution puts an end to a longstanding injustice in our legal system and gives a voice to countless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims of violence, one we never hear because they are no longer here to speak for themselves,” said D’Arcy Kemnitz, executive director of the LGBT Bar.

Gay and trans “panic” defense tactics ask a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity is to blame for the defendant’s excessively violent reaction. The perpetrator claims that the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity not only explain – but excuse – their loss of self-control and subsequent assault of an LGBT individual. By fully or partially acquitting the perpetrators of crimes against LGBT victims, these defenses imply that LGBT lives are worth less than others.

The American Bar Association's House Of Delegates must approve the resolution at their annual meeting in August in order for it to become official ABA policy.

More On The MS "Gay Panic" Murder

Friends of the accused killer of openly gay Mississippi mayoral candidate Marco McMillian are claiming that McMillian attempted to rape the suspect, who may be planning a "gay panic" defense.

The sisters say Reed told them everything. Just after midnight on February 26, their youngest sister received a panicked call from Reed. One sister says, "He called at 12:11am and he told her that the dude (McMillian) was trying to rape him. He was exposing himself to him, playing with himself, telling him to do things and then he'll take him home."

He told the girl he was on a back road and couldn't get away. A few minutes later a bruised, bloody and broken Reed showed up at their back porch. "He just looked like he had been through war..." one sister describes, "He was standing in the back, back here, telling God to forgive him. He didn't mean to do it, and he was saying that he just wanted to die."

She says when Reed couldn't get away from McMillian, he used the chain on his wallet to choke the 200 pound politician. "He was shaking real hard, he was crying real hard, he was circling, begging for somebody to talk to him." The sisters say Reed was inconsolable and, they believe, suicidal. "When he left out, he just drove out, sped up and hit a white truck head on."

McMillian's body was found burned and beaten and police believe he had been dragged. Earlier this week the FBI joined the investigation as Mississippi offers no hate crimes protections based on sexual orientation.  McMillian is thought to have been the first openly gay political candidate in state history.

MISSISSIPPI: Feds To Investigate Murder Of Mayoral Candidate Marco McMillian

The FBI announced yesterday that it will investigate the murder of openly gay small town mayoral candidate Marco McMillian, whose burned and beaten body was found in Mississippi last week. Local police have declined to characterize the murder as a hate crime and lawyers for the man charged in the case are reportedly considering a "gay panic" defense.

The agency "will assess evidence to determine whether federal prosecution is appropriate," Deborah Madden, an FBI public affairs specialist, said Wednesday. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and the National Black Justice Coalition, both separately urged the federal government Tuesday to seek potential hate crime charges in a case that has grabbed national attention. Mississippi has a hate-crime law that covers race, religion and gender but doesn't extend to sexual orientation. However, local and state agencies can seek assistance to pursue a federal hate crime under the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which does cover homosexuality. Or the FBI can come in to investigate at the request of an outside source, as in the McMillian case.

McMillian was thought to be the first openly gay political candidate in the history of Mississippi. (Via Towleroad)

MISSISSIPPI: Gay Panic Defense Floated In Murder Of Gay Mayoral Candidate

Last week the body of Marco McMillian, a mayoral candidate in a small Mississippi town, was found beaten and burned.  Police almost immediately announced that they had a 22 year-old suspect in custody.  Today we get a disturbing update via press release:

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) has learned that a “gay panic” defense might be used by the suspect in the homicide of Mississippi Mayoral Candidate, Marco McMillian. McMillian was found dead on Wednesday, February 27th near the bank of the Mississippi River just west of Clarksdale, Mississippi, the town where he had been a mayoral hopeful. Lawrence Reed was arrested for the homicide, and it is being reported that the two men may have had an intimate relationship during the approximately two weeks that they knew one another. It is also being reported that Reed, who identifies as straight, may have “snapped” as a result of sexual advances on the part of McMillian. Police have ruled out a hate crime in this case so far, something that some of McMillian’s friends and family members want reconsidered due to the brutal nature of the homicide.

The NCAVP notes that Mississippi does not have a state hate crimes law, meaning that federal charges would be required. McMillian was thought to have been the first openly gay political candidate in the history of Mississippi.

MICHIGAN: State Court Of Appeals Rules Against "Gay Panic" As Defense Claim

A little common sense out of the Michigan Court of Appeals (PDF):

This case arises from the beating of Ryan Young. In the early morning hours of June 11, 2009, Young was celebrating his birthday with friends at a local bar. Defendant was also at the bar. Young did not know defendant, but defendant joined Young and his friends at their table and defendant and Young talked and became acquainted. At about 3:30 a.m., Young and defendant were dropped off at Young's apartment. Young testified that he went into his bedroom to change and asked defendant: "did you want to do anything or did you just want to go to bed," to which defendant responded: "yeah, I'm going to do something you fucking faggot."

Young testified that defendant choked him "so bad" that he "could not get away from him" and Young thought he was going to die because defendant "wouldn't get off me and just stop punching me." Young believed that he was fighting for his life. Young remembered defendant cutting off his oxygen until he passed out and that, when he came to, defendant was "just still bashing my face in" until he went unconscious again. Young believed defendant hit him "a good 30 times." According to Young, he never tried to touch defendant and neither of them ever fell asleep-except when Young went unconscious from the assault. Young testified that there was no discussion about flipping the television on or anything and that he believed this was because defendant had the assault already planned.

Read the full court ruling at the above link.

(Via - Pam Spaulding)

NEW YORK CITY: Confessed Killer Claims Gay Panic In Staten Island Slaying

Ronald Jones, 55, beat and strangled his friend Robert Jenkins to death on Saturday as the pair drank in Jenkins' Staten Island home. Yesterday Jones (left) told investigators that he killed Jenkins in a "rage" after an unwanted sexual advance.

Some of the victim's enraged relatives were so overcome by emotion after spotting the suspect in court, they had to be held back. "That was my father!" Thomas Jenkins, 38, said angrily. The suspect didn't respond. And he didn't make eye contact with the victim's 30 or so relatives gathered in court. When the judge denied Jones bail, mourners broke out in applause. Robert Jenkins, 68, a retired mechanic and grandfather of 11, was found dead early Saturday in his West Brighton home. He had been drinking cognac with Jones for hours. Jones was visiting from Maryland.

Staten Island Live reports that victim's son arrived at the home to find the killer passed out with his arm around his father's corpse. Jones has pleaded not guilty to the charge of second-degree murder, despite having confessed.

NORTH CAROLINA: Killer Says Mucinex Overdose + Gay Panic Made Him Do It

Nineteen year old Michael Anderson (left) has confessed to the murder of Stephen Starr, 35, in Hickory, North Carolina, telling a police dispatcher that it was an overdose of Mucinex combined with Starr's unwanted advances that caused him to shoot and hack Starr to death.

Starr was found in bed in what law enforcement has described as one of the most gruesome crime scenes they’ve seen in years. Anderson was charged with Starr’s murder Monday afternoon and has his first court appearance Wednesday morning. Anderson called 911 while next to Starr’s body in the master bedroom, with a gun still in his hands, according to the 911 call. Anderson was holding the pistol, Fish said. In the call, Anderson says he took some pills that “made me go mad.” He tells the woman at the communications center that he shot his roommate three times and then used an ax and mutilated his body. “I Od’d on Mucinex DM. Dextromethorphan makes me feel a little weird and I took too many,” Anderson said.

About 4 minutes and 30 seconds into the call, the telecommunicator asks what sparked the attack. Anderson said it was because he was straight, and Starr was gay. According to him, the two met at a gay club. Anderson said he was straight, but went to the club to experiment. “I met him and went to his house and he took me in and I turned straight again. And he wanted to touch me and stuff and I wouldn’t let him, and he kept trying. And I waited until he went to sleep and then I shot him three times. And I mutilated him very badly and I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Oh God, please help me.”

The comments on the above-linked newspaper article are predictably filled with citations of Leviticus and kindly Christian admonitions that the deceased had it coming. Here's Anderson's 911 call to report having committed the murder.

NEW YORK CITY: Guilty Verdict In Murder Of Gay College Student Kevin Pravia

Jeromie Cancel (above right) has been found guilty in the murder of Manhattan college student Kevin Pravia, who was strangled in his apartment by Cancel after the part allegedly met to conduct a drug deal in Union Square. The defense had implied "gay panic" as a reason for the murder. Duncan Osborne reports at Gay City News:

The trial opened on November 4 and the jury began deliberating late on November 17, broke for the day, and found the 24-year-old Cancel guilty of second-degree murder, the one charge he faced, before 11 a.m. on November 18. The defense said that Cancel was under the influence of an extreme emotional disturbance when he strangled the 19-year-old to death, but the jury clearly rejected that argument. Michael Alperstein, Cancel’s attorney, implied that his client’s emotional state was caused by a gay sex act between Cancel and Pravia. Alperstein called a psychiatrist and a psychologist who testified to Cancel’s troubled history, but neither witness said he was compelled by an extreme emotional disturbance during the crime.

Cancel faces 25 years to life in prison at his sentencing next month.

TEXAS: Possible Gay Panic Defense In Murder Of 18 Year-Old Student

Texas police have charged a 19 year-old student with murder after he led investigators to the beaten and burned body of 18 year-old fellow student Joshua Wilkerson (left). The suspect claims the pair fought after Wilkerson made sexual advances on him.

The suspect, identified as Hermillo Moralez, beat Joshua Wilkerson to death with a large wooden object sometime Tuesday afternoon, according to court records from Brazoria County. The 19-year-old then burned the teenager's body. Moralez told investigators Wilkerson gave him a ride in his truck after school and sometime later, the victim "began to come on to him in a sexual manner," according to a probable cause document. Moralez said he hit Wilkerson and the two got out of his truck and fought. Moralez was previously a person of interest in the investigation when he was seen loitering in the area of Joshua Wilkerson's abandoned vehicle, according to a Pearland Police Department statement.

According to a local ABC station, after a handcuffed Moralez led police to Wilkerson's body, he attempted to pull a detective's gun from its holster and make an escape. Those two felonies will be added to the murder charges. He is being held without bond. News reports have not speculated as to whether Wilkerson was gay.

(Tipped by JMG reader Tarick)

NEW YORK CITY: Possible Gay Panic Defense In Murder Of College Student

In August 2008, openly gay Pace University student Jason Pravia, 19, was murdered in his Chelsea apartment after he left a downtown party. According to reports, Pravia left the party extremely drunk and went to Union Square to score drugs. There he met Jeromie Cancel, 22, an occasional dealer and former mental patient who accompanied Pravia back to his apartment. After Pravia fell asleep, Cancel suffocated him with a plastic bag and robbed his apartment. When asked by police why he'd killed Pravia, Cancel reportedly said, "Because I wanted to. You gotta problem with that?"

Cancel is about to go on trial for second degree murder. According to Duncan Osborne at Gay City News, his lawyers may be preparing a gay panic defense. Osborne reports that prospective jurors were questioned yesterday about their views on "extreme emotional disturbance" as a justification for murder.

If successful, the lack of criminal responsibility could excuse Cancel entirely, though he would likely be held in an institution until he is cured of his condition. If a jury believes the extreme emotional disturbance defense, the charge against Cancel would be reduced to first-degree manslaughter.The maximum sentence for murder is 25-to-life, and the maximum sentence on the manslaughter charge is up to 25 years in prison, with the requirement that the offender serve six-sevenths of that time, or just over 21 years, before becoming eligible for release. Juries tend to dislike psychiatric defenses, and Alperstein was confronted with such skepticism. He said that the judge hearing the case, Daniel P. Fitzgerald, would give the jury rules to follow in assessing the defense. One man among the prospective jurors said he did not trust the “underpinnings of the science that can lead to conclusions about behavior.” Alperstein asked, “Would you be able to apply those rules or would you say, ‘I don’t care what the psychiatrists say’?” Another man said, “I have a hard time seeing how the psychiatry is an excuse for certain behavior,” and Alperstein asked, “Then you would have a hard time following the judge’s instructions?”

Jury selection is expected to conclude tomorrow. I'll continue to follow this case.

Candy Panic

About the latest M&M's commercial, After Elton's Ed Kennedy says:

I don't know where to go with this, but M&Ms have been running a commercial for their pretzel M&M, and the Orange character. It's been driving me nuts, because the subtext is really not even subtext. Both are voiced by males, and what the script doesn't say is more explicit than what it does say. Surely I'm not the only person that sees what they seem to be implying?

Killer Of Gay Teen Jorge Mercado Found Competent To Stand Trial

The confessed killer of gay teen Jorge Mercado has been found competent to stand trial. Last month Juan Martinez Matos was ordered to undergo mental evaluation after exhibiting symptoms of what some said was a faked state of psychosis. Via Michael Lavers at Edge:

"The quest for justice has begun," Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force told EDGE in a text message sent from inside the court house. Local authorities have pledged to prosecute Martínez under the territory’s hate crimes laws, but activists and elected officials on the island and around the country remain outraged over Gov. Luis Fortuño’s continued silence. "There are a lot of people who are extremely angry about how the governor has responded to this situation," New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said as she spoke at a fundraiser for López’s family at the Nuyorican Poets Café on Manhattan’s Lower East Side on Tuesday night. Quinn is among the lawmakers-City Councilmembers Rosie Mendez [D-Lower East Side] and Melissa Mark-Viverito [D-East Harlem,] among others--from the five boroughs and Chicago who will travel to Puerto Rico on Tuesday to meet with López’s family and LGBT activists.

Serrano told me by phone today that the next step will a February 2nd hearing of the charges. If you are new to this story, in November Matos confessed to stabbing, burning, and dismembering 19 year old Jorge Mercado in what Matos is claiming was gay panic over discovering that Mercado was male.

Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, 19

Via Andres Duque at Blabbeando, the mother of murdered gay teen Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado shares her grief. (Mercado's mother is pictured above with activist Pedro Julio Serrano. They are recreating Mercado's signature salute, seen below.)

"When my son told me he was gay, I told him, 'Now, I love you more'. I want to tell the world that hatred is not born with human beings, it is a seed that is planted by adults and is fostered creating a climate of intolerance and violence. We must change our ways and understand that anyone... could have been my son. And I want everybody to know that Jorge Steven was a very much loved son."

Mercado's body was found burned and decapitated last week. Juan Martinez Matos, 25, has confessed to the murder and appears to be planning a "gay panic" defense. Memorial vigils in Mercado's honor have been taking place around the nation. New Yorkers will gather today at 5PM at the Christopher Street Pier.

BELOW: Clip 1 -Puerto Rico-based activist and National Gay & Lesbian Task Force staffer Pedro Julio Serrano speaks at a rally in San Juan. (Subtitles by Andres Duque.) Clip 2 - A photo tribute created by Mercado's friends, who knew him as Steven.

Puerto Rico: "Gay Panic" Defense In Murder Of Gay Teen Jorge Mercado

Juan Martinez Matos, 25, is being held on $4M bond in San Juan, Puerto Rico after confessing to the decapitation murder of 19 year-old gay teen Jorge Mercado. The killer is claiming "gay panic" after he discovered that Mercado, who was in drag, was a male.

Martinez met Lopez while looking for women Thursday night in an area known for prostitution, according to prosecutor Jose Bermudez Santos. Bermudez said the suspect confessed to stabbing Lopez, who was dressed as a woman, after discovering he was a man. "He has a deep-seated rage," Bermudez said in remarks reported by the newspaper El Nuevo Dia. "All the information we have is very clear that this is indeed a hate crime," said Pedro Julio Serrano, a Puerto Rico native who is a spokesman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. A 2002 hate crime law in this U.S. territory has not been applied to any cases involving sexual orientation or gender identity despite calls to use it more aggressively, Serrano said.

A suspect convicted of a hate crime offense as part of another crime automatically faces the maximum penalty for the underlying crime. For murder, that would be life in prison. Serrano said he has identified at least 10 slayings on the island over the last seven years that should have been investigated as hate crimes, including some in which the victims were sex workers. Two U.S. Congress members from New York, who are of Puerto Rican origin, have suggested prosecuting the case under new federal hate crimes legislation that extended coverage to sexual orientation. President Barack Obama signed it last month. The FBI is monitoring the investigation, and Lymarie Llovet Ayala, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Juan, said Wednesday that federal prosecutors are considering whether to take on the case.

Vigils in memory of Jorge Mercado will take place across the United States this weekend. New Yorkers will gather at the Christopher Street Pier at 5pm on Sunday. (I will attend and provide coverage.) A website has been established with information about vigils in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Durham, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Oakland, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

Local News On "Gay Panic" Marine Attack

Here's local Tampa news covering the "gay panic" claim of USMC reservist Jasen Bruce, who attacked a Greek Orthodox priest with a tire iron.

Tampa: Marine Beats Greek Priest With Tire Iron, Claims Gay Panic

USMC Reservist Jasen Bruce, 28, who moonlights as a beefcake model, yesterday beat a robed Greek Orthodox priest with a tire iron, claiming the man had groped him sexually and said "Alluha Akbar." The priest, who speaks little English, says he was lost and asking for directions. Later Bruce recanted his claim that the priest spoke Arabic to him and said he didn't understand him at all. The priest is 5'6" and Bruce is a giant roided-out bodybuilder.

The priest was lost in the Channel District and needed directions to Interstate 275, so he tapped a U.S. Marines reservist on the arm and, in a thick Greek accent, asked for help. That's how police say the incident began. But Lance Cpl. Jasen Bruce said the man, who was wearing a robe, sandals and a long beard, propositioned him in English and grabbed his genitals. Both versions of events end the same way – with the priest recovering from a beating with a tire iron, the Marine reservist under arrest and police investigating a possible hate crime. The Rev. Alexios Marakis, visiting from Greece, had performed a blessing of a retired Greek priest in the West Shore area before accidentally exiting I-275 into downtown Monday evening, police said. Marakis followed cars into the Seaport Channelside Apartments on Twiggs Street and got out to ask for help.

Bruce, a reservist with a West Palm Beach unit since March, had his trunk open so he could get dry cleaning out, police said. Bruce, who lives in the apartment building, was not in uniform. Bruce grabbed a tire iron from the trunk, hit Marakis four times over the head and chased him about three blocks before pinning the priest, police said. In a 911 call, Bruce made a derogatory comment about a man he said was a terrorist and was trying to rob him and had grabbed him in a sexual manner, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. When officers arrived, police say, Bruce told them he heard the man say "Allahu Akbar" – Arabic for "God is great." "That's what they say before they blow you up," Bruce said, according to police. But at a news conference today, Bruce's attorney said his client didn't understand what Marakis said. "Lance Cpl. Bruce defended himself with the full legality of the law for being sexually attacked and potentially robbed," lawyer Jeffrey Brown said.

Bruce is free on $7500 bail and faces charges of battery with a possible hate crimes enhancement. The Marine Corps will wait for the criminal investigation to conclude before taking any action of their own. Two years ago Bruce pleaded no contest to battery on a tow truck driver.

(Via - Towleroad)

Gay Panic: Six Month Sentence For Murder Of Washington DC Gay Man

In yet another example of how a "gay panic" defense can still work, Robert Hannah, 19, has been sentenced to a mere 180 days in jail for the September 2008 murder of Washington, DC resident Toby Hunter.

Tony Randolph Hunter died several days after being punched in the head by Robert Hannah, 19. The incident happened on September 10th 2008. As Hunter fell, he hit his head on the pavement, causing a fatal brain injury. The victim and a friend were on their way to a local gay bar, something which gay activists have said could have been a motive for the attack. The friend with Hunter at the time said the attack had been unprovoked. Last month, Hannah pleaded guilty to one charge of misdemeanor assault as part of a plea bargain offered by prosecutors. In exchange for the guilty plea, a charge of shoplifting against him was dropped. He has already served two months in prison. The sentence of 180 days is the highest that can be given for a misdemeanor assault conviction. Hannah claimed Hunter had tried to come on to him and touched his groin and buttocks, which he said led to the assault. Hunter's friend said he did not see the victim touch Hannah. The defendant was with two other men at the time, one of whom backed up his statement, while the other said he had not seen the alleged sexual touching.