Hanging Tough On Hate Crime Charge in Syracuse
Onondaga County, NY – Lateisha Green, 22, an African American M-to-F transwoman, was shot to death in November 2008 with a .22 calibre rifle in Syracuse, NY. Her brother, Mark Cannon, 18, who was also shot, managed to drive their car home. Mark told reporters, “I was like oh my lord! This is not true!. This is not true, and Moses told me that he loved me on the way home.” Ms. Green, née Moses Cannon, died of what authorities called a hate crime, because the motive for the shooting allegedly was that she and her brother were “gay.” Dwight DeLee was arrested and charged. Subsequently, his attorney entered a plea of not guilty, and challenged the hate crime charge as unconstitutional, citing that the charge is too vague and general. The judge in the case entertained the motion on behalf of the defense, but made the determination that the charge will go forward as entered. If Mr. DeLee is found guilty, it will be the first time in Onondaga County history that the hate crime statute will have been successfully applied in a murder case. Based on evidence the state says it has, Ms. Green was selected for this fatal attack because of her sexual orientation. Her father, Albert Cannon, spoke to the press about his grief and anger: “I’m hurt. Angry. Upset. Am I mad at the kid? Yes. Mostly, I’m upset with society. How do we let our kids get this angry this young? This was hatred.” The trial is scheduled for mid-July of this year.
Epidemic of Transphobic Violence Breaks Out in Memphis Again
Terron Taylor, accused of shooting transwoman Kelvin Denton
Memphis, TN – For the fifth time since 2006, a transgender woman of color has been shot in the streets of Memphis, Tennessee on May 27. Authorities report that Kelvin Denton, an African American transitioning from male to female, was shot in the neck and face by an assailant who did not like the way she presented her gender identity. Ms. Denton is in critical condition as of this writing. After being shot, Ms. Denton managed to run from the scene of the shooting at the Peppertree Apartments, until finally collapsing near the Whitehaven Community Center. Police arrested Terron Taylor for the crime, who said that he felt he had been “misled” about the gender identity of his victim. Such early testimony indicates that the defendant will be using some version of the trans-panic defense to justify his violent attack on Ms. Denton. Taylor is being held on $500,000 bond in Shelby County on two charges: attempted second degree murder and using a firearm to commit a felony. The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition is urging the swift and aggressive prosecution of Taylor for the crime. Tiffany Berry was shot and killed in Memphis in 2006, as well as Ebony Whitaker and Duanna Johnson in 2008. Leeneshia Edwards was also shot in 2008, but survived. The ferocity of these attacks calls for renewed action on the part of the Metro Memphis authorities to put a stop to the violence against transgender people, especially trans people of color.
Murdered Trans-teen Gwen Araujo Vindicated by CA Appeal Court Ruling
Newark, CA, May 13, 2009 – A California state court of appeal upheld the second degree murder convictions of two young East Bay men for their part in the strangling, beating, and murder of 17 year old male-to-female transgender Latina Gwen Amber Rose Araujo in 2002. Jose Merel and Michael Magidson had appealed their convictions on the grounds that the Alameda County trial judge had not defined the crimes properly to the jury at the time of the original trial in 2005, and that there had not been sufficient evidence for second degree murder convictions. The appeal court ruled 3-0 against the petition of the defendants, who will continue to serve out their 15-year sentences for the grisly murder.
The 2002 Araujo case drew national attention to the plight of transgender people in the United States, especially transgender people of color. Araujo, born biologically male and originally known as Eddie, had transitioned to being female by the time of the assault. After she died, her mother legally changed her name to Gwen as a sign of love and respect. Her killers, who knew her as “Lida” had known her for months, and Gwen believed they were fast friends. Both Merel and Magidson had sex with Araujo orally and anally. According to their defense, she had not revealed her biological identity to them. When her biological maleness was discovered, the defense went on to contend, the men attacked Araujo “in the heat of the moment,” and therefore deserved convictions for a lesser charge of manslaughter instead of murder. The prosecution successfully argued against this version of the “trans-panic defense,” and secured the murder convictions against them. Two other defendants in the case, Jaron Nabors and Jason Cazares pled guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 11 and 6 years respectively. They have not sought to challenge their convictions.
The Araujo case sharpened the national debate on the trans-panic defense. The outcome of the 2002 trial went a long way toward refuting the once widely held notion that trans people somehow brought on attacks against themselves. As Masen Davis, executive director of the Transgender Law Center noted to reporters,the ruling of the court of appeal definitively rejected the claim that the murder of a young woman like Gwen should be reduced to a lesser charge just because she was transgender. “We are thankful that the Court of Appeal saw through this blatant prejudice, and upheld the convictions of Gwen’s killers,” she said.
Angie Zapata’s Murderer Sentenced to 60 More Years
Allen Ray Andrade, Angie Zapata's Convicted Murderer
Denver – the AP reports that Allen Ray Andrade, convicted of murder in the first degree in the Angie Zapata transgender murder case and sentenced to life without parole has been determined to be a “habitual criminal” and sentenced to an additional 60 years in prison. Weld County District Judge Marcello Kopcow ruled on May 8 that the three remaining convictions, for bias-motivated crime, aggravated motor-vehicle theft and identity theft, should carry such a penalty in view of the deliberate criminality with which Andrade committed these offenses.
Angie Zapata, trans-Latina, died violently at 18 years of age
Supporters of federal hate crimes legislation hope that this application of the Colorado hate crimes law will add pressure for the passage of a fully transgender inclusive Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act that is awaiting action in the United States Senate. The House of Representatives has recently passed its own version of the legislation, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, by a large margin. President Obama has publicly stated that he would sign a fully trans-inclusive hate crimes law when it reaches his desk.
Ohio Hate Murder Revisited After Six Years: Justice for Gregory Beauchamp
Jerry Jones, 28, indicted for 2002 New Year's Eve Murder of Gregory Beauchamp
On New Year’s Eve 2002, a dark blue Cadillac pulled up to the corner of West Liberty and Vine Streets in Cincinnati beside two cross-dressed friends as they walked to a party. Taunts erupted from the car at the two homosexual men, “Fuckin’ faggot-assed bitches!” Then somebody in the Caddy pulled a trigger, and Gregory Beauchamp, 21, fell fatally wounded in the chest. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Hate Murder Victim Gregory Beauchamp, 21, wanted to be a fashion designer.
Now, thanks to the work of the Cincinnati Cold Case Unit, Jerry Jones, 28, has been indicted for Beauchamp’s murder. Jones was already in custody at a Dayton, Ohio detention facility on unrelated charges. In 2003, though he had been arrested for killing Beauchamp, the grand jury failed to indict him. The years have not dimmed the pain Beauchamp’s friends still feel for his loss. His friend Dontae refuses to forgive Jones: “This is so sad what they did to Gregory. I miss him so much! The guy who took his life don’t think how much he meant to us. He took my best friend [away from me] that night.”
Curtis Johnson holds photo of his friend, Gregory Beauchamp. (Steven Heppich photo)
Gregory Beauchamp was the 65th homicide of the year in Cincinnati, and the last one for 2002. Curtis Johnson remembers the night as if it were yesterday. He told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he was on his way to meet Beauchamp at the party. “He just died in the street–it’s just terrible. I just want people to know he’s more than just the 65th victim. He loved clothes, music, he could sew. He was just a good person. Being black and gay in Cincinnati is tough.”
Beauchamp’s brutal murder sparked a movement in Cincinnati that culminated in the passage of a municipal hate crime statute. Now his friends may get to see justice done for the gentle man who loved to wear women’s clothing and dreamed of studying fashion design in California.
Angie Zapata Verdict in: Andrade Guilty of 1st Degree Murder, Hate Crime Charges; Sentenced to Life
Allen Andrade and attorney hear guilty verdict for the hate crime murder of Angie Zapata (Eric Bellamy photo, Colorado Independent)
Greeley, CO: Allen Ray Andrade was found guilty this afternoon on all four counts against him in the murder of Angie Zapata, a transgender teen woman. The jury deliberated less than three hours before arriving at its verdict. Andrade crushed Angie Zapata’s skull with repeated blows from a metal fire extinguisher on July 17, 2008 after spending 36 hours with her in a 400 square foot apartment. The jury rejected the “trans-panic” defense mounted by Andrade’s attorneys and invoked the penalties in Colorado’s comprehensive hate crime law in what is being called by LGBT rights advocates a “landmark ruling” that demonstrates to Coloradans the need for their bias-motivated crime statute in the prosecution of homophobic killers.
Angie Zapata was 18 at the time of her murder
Judge Marcelo Kopcow read the verdict that found him guilty of first-degree murder, bias-motivated crime, aggravated motor vehicle theft in the first degree and identity theft. Less than an hour later, Judge Kopcow sentenced 32-year-old Andrade to life without the possibility of parole. Looking at Andrade, the judge then said, “I will say, Mr. Andrade, I hope as you’re spending the remaining part of your natural life in the department of corrections… that you every day think about the violence and the brutality that you caused on this fellow human being. And the pain you have caused not only your family, but the family of Angie Zapata.”
Zapata Family at a vigil for Angie in 2008
Gonzalo Zapata, Angie’s brother, spoke to the press following the verdict on behalf of his sisters and his mother, who were also present:
“Angie was my sister. She was a member of our family. We loved her very much and we will miss her every day. Every day and every night, my mom has to deal with the great pain that she saw one of her babies being buried.
“Angie was brave. She had guts, had courage and was beautiful, was fun and was loving. Life was sometimes difficult for her. We learned along with her, to learn she was born a girl with a body that was wrong for her.
“This week, we are deeply saddened and angry as we witness graphic details about the last few minutes of my sister’s life. A big brother is supposed to protect … ” [he breaks down momentarily, and then regains his composure].
“I got it,” he said. “A big brother’s supposed to protect his little sister. It breaks my heart to think there was nothing I could do to protect my little sister.
“Only a monster can look at a beautiful 18-year-old and beat her to death. This monster not only hit my sister but continued to beat her head in over and over and over and over again until her head was crushed in and then left her there to die. He’ll never understand how angry we are at him and how much he has hurt us.
“We will always love you, Angie. And we will always miss you, hija. Thank you.”
Fate of Angie Zapata’s Confessed Murderer Goes to Jury
Allen Ray Andrade, on trial for the Murder of transgender woman Angie Zapata, awaits his verdict in Greeley, CO today. Prosecution goes for first degree murder. Andrade, already confessed to the murder, was deeply homophobic, according to statements from the jail to girlfriends, such as “Gay things must die.”
Justice Coming for Angie Zapata
Angie Zapata, 18, and alleged murderer, Allen Andrade, courtesy of ABC News
Denver, CO: Allen Andrade, 32, told investigators that he bashed Angie Zapata in the head twice with a fire extinguisher. He confessed that he thought he had “killed it” when Zapata roused, and then he clobbered her again, delivering the coup de grace. That was last July. Now he is slated to go on trial for bias-motivated murder in Greeley, CO where he carried out the crime because he found out Zapata, an 18-year-old male-to-female transwoman, was biologically male.
Angie Zapata
Born Justin Zapata, Angie had been living as a woman since the age of 16. She had striking beauty, attracting many admirers, though according to her sister, Monica, her loves ended by her boyfriends going back to biological women. Angie was a gentle, graceful, loving sister, who suspended her life in Fort Lupton, where she was raised, to come to Greeley to help her sister take care of her children. Monica found Angie’s battered corpse in her apartment, covered in a blanket.
For two weeks, investigators sought the killer, and finally arrested Andrade on July 30. He made an initial confession which a judge ruled inadmissible on a technicality. He has been held in jail without bond since his arrest for the murder. While behind bars Andrade made recorded phone calls to girlfriend claiming that when he discovered Zapata’s biological status, he “snapped.” In another conversation, he told his girlfriend that “gay things need to die.” The phone call transcripts and recordings will be admitted in evidence in the trial.
According to the Associated Press, Andrade is going to be the first person prosecuted for a hate crime under the sexual orientation section of Colorado’s hate crimes law. Colorado is one of 11 states to have hate crimes enhancements in their statutes. The comprehensive Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on April 2, 2009, would allow the FBI and other Federal Agencies to investigate such crimes, and to support the local authorities in carrying out their investigations, as well. Passage of the LLEHCPA remains a critical element of deterring and punishing hate crimes offenders for violence related to sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
While nothing can bring Angie Zapata back to her family, friends and loved ones, justice for her and for all transgender victims of hate crime violence, which has been so long in coming, may finally be on the horizon. Stay in touch for further developments.
Fight Hate Crimes Campaign Launches Effort to Pass Matthew Shepard Act
The Human Rights Campaign has launched its big federal legislative push to enact the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, also called the Matthew Shepard Act, named in memory of the most widely recognized LGBT hate crimes victim in American history. Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by two Laramie, Wyoming men in October 1998. Both pled guilty, and are serving life sentences for their crime. Visit the HRC site for more information: www.hrc.org/sites/hatecrimes/index.asp.
Martinez casket header for Denver Post article on F.C.'s murder
Fred C. Martinez, Jr. (1985-2001), a sixteen-year-old Navajo, is featured in the HRC campaign. He was one of the first subjects of research for the Unfinished Lives Project, and will figure prominently in Dr. Sprinkle’s forthcoming book, Unfinished Lives: Reviving the Memory of LGBT Hate Crimes Murder Victims. The book is still in the writing stage at this point, with a projected completion date of September 2009.
"Dance to the Berdache," George Catlin, ca. 1830
Martinez was a Two-Spirit person, also called a berdache. F.C., as his friends called him, suffered harassment in the Cortez, CO public schools for his transgender identity. In June 2001, on the night of the Ute Mountain Carnival and Rodeo, Shaun Murphy, a resident of Farmington, NM, lured F.C. into a narrow, deep canyon cut diagonally through the south part of Cortez, and cracked open his skull with a 25 pound rock. Murphy left him to die of exposure and blood loss, bragging the night of the murder that he had “bug-smashed a joto,” slang for “fag.” At the time F.C.’s body was discovered by small boys playing on the canyon floor five days after the homicide, his remains were so decomposed that his mother could identify him only by the blue bandana he wore when he left her home.
Shaun Murphy, F.C.'s killer
Murphy, 18, was sentenced to 40 years for F.C.’s murder. There is little to indicate that F.C., the most famous person ever to live in Cortez, had ever existed. Neither Colorado nor the United States has enacted anti-hate crime legislation. His mother, Pauline Mitchell, still works as an advocate for LGBT people and for the memory of her son. She visits his grave often, kneeling on the grass, talking to him in Navajo and English, thanking him for understanding that things are taking so long to change.
F.C. and his mom, Pauline Mitchell
There is strong medicine in the F.C. Martinez, Jr. story. As a nadleeh, as Navajo people refer to their Two-Spirits, he was a sign of the balance between the feminine and the masculine in us all. He walked the Way of Beauty. As the Navajo Blessingway Chant says:
Earth’s body has become my body
by means of this I shall live on.
Earth’s mind has become my mind
by means of this I shall live on.
Earth’s voice has become my voice
by means of this I shall live on.
About
If you are a first-time visitor to the Unfinished Lives Project website, we invite you to read A Welcome Message introducing you to our project. We are truly grateful for your visit.
The Unfinished Lives Project website is a place of public discourse which remembers and honors LGBTQ hate crime victims, while also revealing the reality of unseen violence perpetrated against people whose only “offense” is their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender presentation. LGBTQ people in the United States are suffering a slow-rolling decimation of terror and murder all across the country. Every locale and demographic of society are affected: First Nations, Anglo, Black, Latino and Latina, South and Southeast Asian, Transgender, Bisexuals, Gay men, Lesbians, disabled, young, and mature. Homophobia has a long, crooked arm, and it is reaching out to snatch the life away from women and men whose tragic stories are under-reported to begin with, and whose memories are swiftly forgotten.
The horror of these killings transcends the shock and bereavement of loved ones and friends. These are not typical homicides; they are not killings for money or drugs, incidents of domestic strife, or crimes of passion. The vicious nature of hate crimes against LGBTQ persons is extremely brutal, grotesquely violent, and egregiously hateful.
Each murder serves the LGBTQ population as a sobering warning about the actual level of danger in our communities. The message these killings send is that freedom and open life for LGBTQ people is a cruel dream. Every time we remember one of these victims, however, the intentions of their killers are frustrated. To remember these women and men is to begin the process of changing the culture that killed them.
Our Project Director
Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle (Keith Tew photo).
Stephen V. Sprinkle is Director of Field Education and Supervised Ministry, and Professor of Practical Theology at Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas, a post he has held since 1994. An ordained Baptist minister, he is the first open and out Gay scholar in the history of the Divinity School, and the first open and out LGBTQ person to be tenured there. Read More…
Recent Social Justice Advocacy Activity By Dr. Sprinkle
Summer 2009 – Dr. Sprinkle responded to the Fort Worth Police Department and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Raid on the Rainbow Lounge, Fort Worth’s newest gay bar, on June 28, 2009, the exact 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Dr. Sprinkle was invited to speak at three protest events sponsored by Queer LiberAction of Dallas. Here, he is keynoting the Rainbow Lounge Protest at the Tarrant County Courthouse on July 12, 2009. Read More…
Contact Us
Communicate with the Unfinished Lives project team:
info@unfinishedlivesblog.com
Schedule a Presentation
Dr. Sprinkle will gladly present his acclaimed presentation to your organization. To arrange an Unfinished Lives presentation for your organization or group, please contact us.
Dr. Sprinkle has given his Unfinished Lives presentation to these and other community groups and organizations. Read More…
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Publisher: Steve Sprinkle (Project Director)
Steve Sprinkle
Unfinished Lives: Remembering LGBT Hate Crime VictimsBrite Divinity School/Texas Christian UniversityFort Worth TXprofessor, minister, author, blogger, LGBTQ advocate
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Unfinished Lives 
The Death and Life of Sean Kennedy: A Commemoration
Sean Kennedy had no chance. In effect, he was dead from the moment his skull struck the curb. Elke Kennedy, his mother, has had to live with the horror of his murder ever since.
Moller, on the other hand, reveled in his macho moment. In a drunken phone call to one of Sean’s friends just fifteen minutes after the crime, Moller taunted Kennedy for his sexual orientation. Though it was taped and verified to be Moller’s voice, the call was never allowed into testimony at Moller’s trial:
“Hey. (laughter) Whoa stop. (laughter) Hey, I was just wondering how your boyfriend’s feeling right about now. (laughter) (??) knocked the f— out. (laughter). The f—— faggot. He ought to never stick his mother-f—— nose (??) Where are you going? Just a minute. (laughter). Yea boy, your boy is knocked out, man. The mother——-. Tell him he owes me $500.00 for breaking my god—- hand on his teeth that f—— bitch.”
Moller's mug shot, SC Department of Corrections
Gay panic. AIDS terror. Homophobia. Macho bravado. A hands-on-attack in which the assailant feels the need to damage his target up close and personally. These are all the hallmarks of an anti-LGBT hate crime, as well as the response of the police on the scene who refused to take the hate crime dimension of the assault seriously enough to investigate it until later, and the reluctance of the District Attorney to bring sexual orientation into the case for fear of local heterosexist and homophobic prejudices. Local law enforcement reluctance to investigate or prosecute hate crimes against LGBT people is one of the prime reasons a federal hate crimes statute like the Matthew Shepard Act is so needed. Under the provisions of the Shepard Act, the Attorney General of the United States is enpowered to take over the investigation and prosecution of such a hate crime in situations like this one. No doubt, Moller’s homophobic braggadocio would have been taken into account, had the Shepard Act been on the books at the time of Sean Kennedy’s murder. Moller’s defense rested on two contentions that the court in Greenville bought, in the end: first, Moller didn’t even know Kennedy was gay until after the assault, the inadmissible taped phone conversation to the contrary, and second, nothing in this case rose to the level of murder. The D.A. settled for a charge of manslaughter which carries a penalty of 0-5 years in South Carolina. Moller got three years with credit for time served, and sympathy for his need to support a baby he sired while in the custody of the state. An attempt to lessen his prison time failed, thanks to the efforts of Sean Kennedy’s mother, stepfather, and hundreds of concerned people from around the country who petitioned the parole board in Columbia to deny Moller’s petition for early release. In the end, Moller will serve about a year and a half of actual time, with probation for the hate crime murder of an innocent gay man. Moller is due to be set free, his debt to society paid in full, in July 2009.
Sean’s death still tortures his loved ones. His mother said, “My son was violently murdered because of hate and as his mother I wanted justice. My family will never be the same, a big part of our lives has been ripped out of our hearts.” For too many hate crimes victims, that would be the end of it–injustice, anguish, and the eventual amnesia of a society that would rather just not think about such things. But not for Sean.
The struggle for justice for Sean continues. Elke Kennedy recently said, “No mother should lose a child to hate. No mother should have to fight for justice for their child. To parents who reject their children for their orientation, what would you do if you got a call at three in the morning telling you your child had been murdered?” And Sean’s new life past his death, in memory, in advocacy, and as a cherished story that shall not be forgotten goes on and on. As Sean himself wrote, “So who knows what’s around the corner or down the street. I’m just gonna live life and find out.”
~~ Stephen V. Sprinkle, Director of the Unfinished Lives Project
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May 17, 2009 Posted by unfinishedlives | Heterosexism and homophobia, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Social Justice Advocacy, South Carolina | Anglo Americans, Beatings and battery, gay men, hate crime, hate crimes legislation, Law and Order, Matthew Shepard Act, Remembrances, Special Comment | Comments Off on The Death and Life of Sean Kennedy: A Commemoration