Unfinished Lives

Remembering LGBT Hate Crime Victims

Another Brutal Murder in Puerto Rico

Ponce, Puerto Rico – Boy in Bushwick who runs a fine blog reports that an unidentified man was found horrifically stabbed and slashed to death in a Ponce motel on December 16.  The 40-45-year-old man, believed to be gay, was found nude in a Motel Las Colinas room with his throat slashed and 20 stab wounds in areas of his body consistent with injuries someone would sustain who tried to defend himself.  Investigators on the scene told local reporters that the unidentified victim checked into the motel the day before with another man.  This second man left the motel at about 1:30 pm on Wednesday.  Police are trying to find him for questioning.  The Dallas Voice, quick to pick up on the story, observes that this savage stabbing death occurred just a little over a month after the most notorious anti-gay hate crime in Puerto Rican history took place in Cayey.  Jorge Steven López Mercado, a gay 19-year-old who was well known in the Puerto Rican LGBT community, was decapitated, dismembered, and partially immolated on November 13.  Juan A. Martínez Matos, 26, has confessed to the murder and is copping to a form of the “gay panic defense” as an excuse for his actions. The López Mercado hate crime murder drew international attention, and uncovered the homophobic underside of society in the United States Territory.  Some attempts are being made to besmirch the character of the unidentified murder victim, using innuendo to suggest that since he checked into the motel with another man, something like this was more likely to happen.  Pedro Julio Serrano, the leading activist voice of the Puerto Rican LGBT community, is attempting to pre-empt this none-too-subtle homophobic/heterosexist tactic.  Boy in Bushwick quotes Serrano as saying to Spanish-speaking media, “[Despite] the particular circumstances of his arrival at the motel with another man, the brutality of his murder, the hate with which [the second man allegedly] committed it and through clear signs of cruelty, we ask the authorities to investigate the hate angle in this case.”

December 18, 2009 Posted by | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Blame the victim, Decapitation and dismemberment, gay men, gay panic defense, gay teens, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, immolation, Latino and Latina Americans, Law and Order, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Puerto Rico, Social Justice Advocacy, stabbings, Torture and Mutilation, Unsolved LGBT Crimes | , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Another Brutal Murder in Puerto Rico

López Mercado Murder To Be Treated as Anti-LGBT Hate Crime Killing

San Juan, Puerto Rico – A federal prosecutor in San Juan has announced that her office is continually monitoring the investigation of the horrific torture-murder of Jorge Steven López Mercado, and promised that she will bring hate crimes charges in the event that Puerto Rican authorities do not.  The EDGE reports that United States Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez told the Puerto Rican press she was prepared to lodge anti-LGBT hate crimes charges against Juan A. Martínez Matos, the self-confessed killer of the 19-year-old out gay youth.  If she carries through, this will be the first prosecution under the provisions of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act since it was signed into law by President Barack Obama in October.  Martínez Matos, 26, allegedly decapitated, dismembered, and attempted to immolate López Mercado, dumping his remains on a lonely stretch of road outside Cayey on November 13.  As an excuse for his crime, the alleged killer has claimed that he was surprised to find out that the youth, who was dressed as a female, was actually a gay person.  Believing that Puerto Rican attitudes are still conservative enough to credit some form of the well-worn “gay panic” defense, Martínez Matos says that previous bad encounters with a gay man in his youth caused him to explode with rage.  A judge has ruled that Martínez Matos must undergo psychological evaluation to establish that he is mentally healthy enough to stand trial.  Local LGBT activists have decried the ruling, but are welcoming the announcement of the United States Attorney that hate crime charges may be brought in this case.  Pedro Julio Serrano said to the EDGE, “We are satisfied that the federal authorities are monitoring this case and that they’re respecting the work that the local authorities are doing.  We are all vigilant to this process and we won’t rest until justice is served. This was a horrible hate crime and Puerto Rico needs to send a powerful message to the world that we do not tolerate homophobia in any of its ugly forms.”

December 15, 2009 Posted by | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Blame the victim, Decapitation and dismemberment, gay men, gay panic defense, gay teens, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, immolation, Law and Order, Legislation, Matthew Shepard Act, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Puerto Rico, Torture and Mutilation | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Puerto Rican Gay Teen’s Confessed Murderer Sent for Psychological Testing

Juan A. Martínez Matos in Custody

The confessed killer of  gay teen Jorge Steven López Mercado has been ordered by a judge to undergo psychological evaluation, according to EDGE Boston.  Juan A. Martínez Matos, who confessed that he slaughtered his victim in a moment of “gay panic,” will be tested as to his fitness to stand trial before being returned to the court in Caguas on or before January 13, 2010.  LGBT advocates in Puerto Rico and on the United States mainland have expressed anger at the judicial move.  Pedro Julio Serrano, leading LGBT activist, told EDGE on December 9, “This is outrageous. The reality is we’re seeking justice and we will not rest until this process is done without prejudice.”  Serrano said that the concerns expressed by the gay youth’s grieving family were simply for justice to be done.  Both Serrano and López Mercado’s family have been assured by local prosecutor Yaritza Carrasquillo that the investigation into his gruesome murder will be conducted as a hate crime under the territory’s sexual orientation hate crimes statute.  The LGBT activist community in Puerto Rico remains skeptical.  Though a law protecting LGBT people has been on the books for years, local prosecutors have been unwilling to use the hate crimes provision in any LGBT-related cases up to this point.  If any murder qualifies as a bias-motivated anti-LGBT crime, the November 13, 2009 killing of López Mercado surely does.  Matos confessed shortly after his arrest that he carried out the crime in a homophobic rage because of an encounter with a gay man in his youth, setting the stage for doubts to be sewn about his mental state at the time of the murder.  Matos allegedly beheaded his 19-year-old victim, severed his arms and legs from his torso, and attempted to burn the body, which was found dumped by the side of a road in rural Cayey.  He is charged with first-degree murder for the slaying, and is being held on $4 million bail.

December 10, 2009 Posted by | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Blame the victim, Decapitation and dismemberment, gay men, gay panic defense, gay teens, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, immolation, Latino and Latina Americans, Law and Order, Legislation, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Puerto Rico, Social Justice Advocacy, stabbings, Torture and Mutilation | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Puerto Rican Gay Teen’s Confessed Murderer Sent for Psychological Testing

Bowing to Pressure, Puerto Rican Authorities Ready to Investigate Gay Teen Murder As Hate Crime

 

Family Mourns at López Mercado Funeral, Nueva Dia photo

Boston – EDGE Boston reports Wednesday that the heinous murder of Puerto Rican gay teen, Jorge Steven López Mercado, will be investigated as an anti-LGBT hate crime.  This is a victory for LGBT activists on the island and on the mainland who have repeatedly called for the police to pursue the case as a hate murder.  Pedro Julio Serrano, point person for LGBT activism in Puerto Rico, drew international attention to the heterosexist and homophobic attitude of police investigators who at the onset of the case, blamed the gay youth for his own death.  Serrano and others blasted police investigator Ángel Rodríguez Colón for stating to the press that gay people who live their lives openly can simply expect bad things to happen to them.  Colón was replaced as overseer of the case.  After meeting with representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, Puerto Rican authorities finally have agreed to conduct the investigation as a hate crime murder.  Pointing out that no LGBT person has ever been tried under the provisions of the Puerto Rican hate crimes statute of 2002, the ACLU argued that it was past time for alleged murderers like Juan A. Martínez Matos, who has confessed to slaughtering 19-year-old López Mercado in an anti-gay rage, to be prosecuted as a bias-motivated perpetrator.  Matos is apparently preparing to plead some form of insanity or ‘gay panic’ defense based on accounts of his childhood.  Nueva Dia reports that Henry Ramirez, ACLU executive in Puerto Rico as well as head of the Legal Clinic at the University of Puerto Rico, convinced Puerto Rico Department of Justice Secretary Antonio Sagardía that the time for deflecting the issue of hate crimes against LGBT people in the Commonwealth is long past.  In a statement to the public, Ramirez said, in part, “The ACLU has tried to get the government to accept its responsibility to investigate cases… that are hate crimes, particularly that of young Jorge Steven López Mercado.  We should not be satisfied with the possibility the federal government will do what our government is not interested in doing; which is to protect every citizen.”  The FBI is monitoring events, and may yet intervene in the case with federal charges.  LGBT advocates have long pointed out that the social climate for LGBT Puerto Ricans is hostile.  Conservative Roman Catholic and Protestant attitudes are well-entrenched and powerful throughout most of the Commonwealth.  Heterosexist and homophobic machismo plays a role in pathologizing LGBT people, as well.  Police attitudes are reflective of these negative cultural assumptions.  The López Mercado case may prove to be a watershed for LGBT advocacy in Puerto Rico, and perhaps other places in the Caribbean.  The manner of his death, decapitation, dismemberment, and partial immolation of his body are hallmarks of homophobic rage and bias-motivated hate crime in such obvious ways as to make a hate crime conclusion unavoidable.  López Mercado’s youth also makes this case notable from a media standpoint.  In many ways, Jorge Steven López Mercado may turn out to be Puerto Rico’s Matthew Shepard.

November 26, 2009 Posted by | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Blame the victim, Decapitation and dismemberment, funerals, gay men, gay panic defense, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, immolation, Latino and Latina Americans, Law and Order, Legislation, Matthew Shepard, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Puerto Rico, Social Justice Advocacy, stabbings | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Bowing to Pressure, Puerto Rican Authorities Ready to Investigate Gay Teen Murder As Hate Crime

Mother of Slain Gay Puerto Rican Teen Speaks Out; Protests and Vigils Break Out Worldwide

Miriam Mercado and Pedro Serrano show Jorge's Signature Gesture (Nueva Dia photo)

San Juan, Puerto Rico – The mother of brutally murdered gay teen, Jorge Steven López Mercado, has broken her silence concerning the social and religious environment in Puerto Rico that led to the loss of her son (see Nueva Dia photo, left).  In a statement issued to the press, Miriam Mercado said, “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.”  Meanwhile, the investigation into López Mercado’s murder continues, even as protests and vigils spring up on his home island and around the world, condemning the violence that took his life.  After Juan A. Martínez Matos confessed to the beheading, dismemberment, and burning of young López Mercado, his home was intensively searched.  Forensics experts recovered a knife believed to have been used in the murder that had been thrown into a septic tank.  Statements Matos has made about the events leading up to his savage crime make it likely that he will plead a form of the “gay panic defense,” claiming temporary insanity after ‘discovering’ López Mercado’s sexual identity.  Matos is being held in San Juan on $4 million bail.  At a large protest on the grounds of the Puerto Rican capitol on Thursday, Pedro Julio Serrano, a leading LGBT activist, called out political and religious leaders who have characterized gay and lesbian people as “perverts,” condemning their hate speech for contributing to lethal violence against members of the sexual minority.  Serrano also decried the refusal of these same leaders to extend condolences to López Mercado’s mother and family.  On Sunday, vigils took place around the United States, Latin America, and Europe in memory of the 19-year-old Puerto Rican and another gruesomely slain gay teen, African American Jason Mattison, Jr., who died within days of López Mercado, making last week one of the most shocking in recent anti-LGBT hate crime history.  Thousands of mourners gathered to remember the teens in Anchorage, Alaska, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, CA, San Francisco, Chicago, Terra Haute, IN, San Antonio, Dallas, Abilene, Lubbock, New Orleans, Atlanta, Durham, NC, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia and New York City, as well as in San Juan and at others sites in Puerto Rico.

November 23, 2009 Posted by | African Americans, anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Blame the victim, Condolences, Decapitation and dismemberment, gay men, gay panic defense, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, immolation, Latino and Latina Americans, Law and Order, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Politics, Protests and Demonstrations, Puerto Rico, religious intolerance, Remembrances, Slurs and epithets, Social Justice Advocacy, stabbings, Torture and Mutilation | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

    Next Entries »