Unfinished Lives

Remembering LGBT Hate Crime Victims

Murdered Trans-teen Gwen Araujo Vindicated by CA Appeal Court Ruling

gwen araujo B&WNewark, 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.

May 19, 2009 Posted by | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Media Issues, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Racism, Strangulation, trans-panic defense, transphobia | , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Death and Life of Sean Kennedy: A Commemoration

Sean KennedySean Kennedy died from injuries sustained in an anti-LGBT hate crime attack outside a Greenville, SC bar on May 16, 2007.  The facts of the case are not in dispute.  At 3:45 a.m., Sean William Kennedy, 20, an out gay man, approached some young women who were talking with a car full of straight young men, among whom was Stephen Moller, 18.  The women were distracted from speaking to the young studs by Kennedy, who inadvertently brushed his cigarette against Moller’s cheek, giving him a little burn.  Another passenger in the car told Moller, “You know that dude is gay, right?” and “You probably have got AIDS from him!”  Enraged, Moller rushed out of the car and hit Sean Kennedy in the face with his fist so hard that his facial bones broke.  Kennedy fell back as a result of Moller’s blow with such force that when his head hit the concrete curb, his brain stem detached from his brain.  Moller got back in the car, which sped away from the scene of the crime.

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

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.  

SeansLastWishElke and her husband Jim Parker have rallied hundreds to the cause of remembering Sean and advocating for LGBT human rights.  They established Sean’s Last Wish, a foundation that perpetuates Sean Kennedy’s desire that everyone be treated equally, www.seanslastwish.org.  Sean’s parents have become lions in the struggle for South Carolina and the rest of the nation to have the tools needed to investigate and prosecute violence and intimidation motivated by bias against persons regardless of race, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity of the victim.  Sean’s death has, in effect, given birth to a new and effective way for his memory to be preserved and honored: in the lives of all those spared and enriched to live fully as who they are, free of fear and violence.  

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.”

Sprinkle in FL 08 

 

   ~~ Stephen V. Sprinkle, Director of the Unfinished Lives Project

May 17, 2009 Posted by | Heterosexism and homophobia, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Social Justice Advocacy, South Carolina | , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Death and Life of Sean Kennedy: A Commemoration

Gay Man Gunned Down in His Florida Driveway

Mark Scott HarrissMark Scott Harriss, 30, looked forward to moving to Canada to get married to his fiancé, Ross Salvosa.  Instead, he was shot to death around 8:30 pm in his Delray Beach, Florida driveway on Monday, May 11, 2009.  Was it a hate crime?  He had  multiple gunshot wounds, and there was no evidence of robbery, according to investigators.  Though authorities have not yet made the determination that his murder was a hate crime, friends of Harriss think it was likely.  Professor Earl Fox from the University of Miami School of Medicine knew him well, and the neighborhood where he lived.  Fox noted to the Palm Beach Post that another friend of his who lives in the same area as Harriss had a Nazi swastika painted on her car earlier this year because she is Jewish.  “If somebody is shot multiple times and nobody takes anything, that is just strange,” Fox told reporters.

Police told WPBF television, an ABC affiliate, that Harris was shot 12 times at close range in a manner resembling an “assassination.”  Homophobia is under consideration as a motive for the murder, officers said.

Harriss grew up in Fredericksburg, Texas, in the Hill Country.  He was an enthusiastic water skier, and loved gardening, according to his high school classmate, Theresa Valenzuela, of Austin.  He had moved to Florida in 2007 to take a job with Best Western Motels.  Salvosa, a classical piano student, lived with him until his student visa expired, at which time he returned to his native home in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Harriss was tying up loose ends as quickly as he could in Delray Beach, so that he could find a job in Canada, go to live there in early summer, and marry his beloved.

Now Salvosa is returning to Florida to mourn Harriss and to oversee his memorial service.  Harriss wished to be cremated, and to have his ashes interred back in New Braunfels, Texas, a city between Austin and San Antonio.

Investigations into Harriss’ savage murder continue, and the Delray Police Department vow to follow all leads until the tragic mystery of this killing is resolved.

May 16, 2009 Posted by | Florida, Heterosexism and homophobia, Marriage Equality | , , , , , | Comments Off on Gay Man Gunned Down in His Florida Driveway

Angie Zapata’s Murderer Sentenced to 60 More Years

 

Allen Ray Andrade, Angie Zapata's Convicted Murderer

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

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.

May 10, 2009 Posted by | Beatings and battery, Legislation, Perpetrators of Hate Crime | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Michael Scott Goucher and the Deadly Web of Homophobia

 

Michael Scott Goucher

Michael Scott Goucher

Michael Scott Goucher, 21, thought he was meeting Shawn “Skippy” Freemore, 19, for a second tryst when he left his Stroudsburg, PA, apartment on the night of February 3, 2009 (see Towleroad, “Internet Tryst Leads to Murder of Pennsylvania Army Veteran, 2/13/2009”). Instead, Goucher was being set up for murder. Goucher met Freemore online. According to his MySpace page, Freemore identified as bisexual, but more interested in men. After the initial meet up in January, Freemore enlisted his friend, Ian Seagraves, 17, to ambush Goucher.

Goucher followed Freemore out of his car in a wooded area off of Snow Hill Road in Price Township. Seagraves, who was hiding under a nearby bridge, surprised Goucher, stabbing him in the neck. During the attack, his two assailants stabbed Goucher “45 to 50 times” according to police affadavits. They rifled his pockets, taking credit cards, his ID, and a cell phone. A DVD belonging to Goucher was later confiscated at Seagraves’ home. They covered his body with snow, and drove his car away.

Ian Seagraves & Shawn Freemore, courtesy of Pocono Record

Ian Seagraves & Shawn Freemore, courtesy of Pocono Record

When he was arrested, Freemore contended that he had acted alone and used the “gay panic” defense, saying that he resisted Goucher’s sexual advances in the car, and only after Goucher pursued him outside, stabbed him in the neck and stomach “about 20 times.” On February 11, 2009, Freemore showed police the location of Goucher’s body. Detectives secured a knife and a meat cleaver near the body, and a roll of duct tape with Seagraves’ fingerprint under the bridge. Seagraves, who apparently celebrated his part in the murder by changing his MySpace moniker to “ThrOwt Stabba,” was soon arrested, and the pair is now charged with premeditated murder.

This is one murder the FBI will surely miss in its Hate Crimes Statistics. The murky details of online hookups, closeted gayness, and bisexuality mingle with drug and alcohol addiction (on Freemore’s part at least), theft, and the involvement of the teenage men in a violence-exalting subculture called “the Juggaloes.” Anti-gay hate murder has been facilitated online before, as the story of Michael J. Sandy showed in 2006, as well as the role that homosexual self-loathing plays in the psychological makeup of some attackers. But this was a brutal, homophobia-instigated and motivated hate crime.

Michael Goucher at the Zion UCC organ

Michael Goucher at the Zion UCC organ

Goucher, a U.S. Army veteran, was a contributing member of his community. He worked for the local school system, and volunteered as the assistant organist of the Zion United Church of Christ in Stroudsburg, where he had impressed the pastor and the membership with his talent, sincerity, and friendliness. He was captain of the East Stroudsburg Crime Watch. He was a gay man. Though he came out to his family as early as 14, according to his uncle, William Searfoss, Goucher did keep his orientation from his Army superiors.

His killers will be judged according to the evidence. Allegedly, they own the guilt for this terrible crime. But Freemore and Seagraves are, in their own ways, victims of American-style homophobia, too. They were products of the same school system as Michael Goucher. They loathed gay men enough to turn a consensual sexual encounter into a bloodbath, with all the marks of homophobic overkill. They victimized Michael Goucher, giving way to their own self-loathing.

UPDATE: Following a Supreme Court ruling that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole, Ian Seagraves was given a new hearing in hopes of securing a lesser sentence.  His attorney filed a petition to the court based on the Supreme Court decision.  But the judge was unmoved by the arguments, and after hearing the profanity laced lyrics of Seagraves’ song about the Goucher murder, reaffirmed the sentence Seagraves was serving.  Goucher’s uncle, William Searfoss, said to PA Homepage, that the focus of the story can now return to Michael Goucher: “This isn’t about [Seagraves]. This is about Mike.”

March 30, 2009 Posted by | Bisexual persons, Blame the victim, gay men, Hate Crime Statistics, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, military, Pennsylvania, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Popular Culture, stabbings | , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Terry Mangum receives life sentence for 2007 hate crime

An article appearing in the Dallas Voice reports Terry Mangum, the murderer of 46-year-old Ken Cummings Jr., has been sentenced to life imprisonment. In June 2007, Mangum met Cummings at a gay bar in the Montrose area of Houston, Texas, went to Cummings’s home in Pearland (a metro-Houston city), and attacked his victim.

Mangum has said that he believes he was “anointed and appointed by God” to commit the murder, which entailed stabbing his victim in the head, cleaning the crime scene, moving his victim to a ranch south of San Antonio, Texas, and then burning and burying Cummings’s remains in a shallow grave. A Brazoria County reporter for The Facts tells how Mangum believes God called on him to “carry out a code of retribution” by killing a gay man because “sexual perversion” is “the worst sin.” The graphic nature of Mangum’s crime has also been reported in The Facts.

According to the Dallas Voice article, jurors in Mangum’s trial agreed the murder was a hate crime, which could make it less likely that he’ll be granted parole. As it is, Mangum won’t be eligible for parole for 30 years.

August 16, 2008 Posted by | immolation, Law and Order, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, religious intolerance, stabbings, Texas | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Greeley Police and the Zapata Family Speak about Angie Zapata’s Murder

View a Greeley Police press conference, where Police Chief Jerry Garner announces the arrest of Angie Zapata’s alleged killer.

In the video, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck expressed how Weld County and the City of Greeley will dedicate their best efforts to prosecute the man who murdered Angie Zapata. Buck said, “It doesn’t matter who the victim is, or whether the victim is victimized because they are a certain race, religion, sexual orientation. It’s a crime, and in Weld County, in Greeley, we’re going to do the best we can to enforce the law. It [murder] can’t be tolerated at any level.”

Buck continued, saying, “I hope that if anything positive were to come of this we would develop a stronger relationship with the gay and lesbian, transgender, community so that they understand just how seriously we take crimes like this, and how vigorously we will pursue justice in a situation like this…. We are not tolerant of people who would do harm to the residents of our town.”

Excerpts of the press conference are reported by the Greeley Tribune:

 

In this video, members of the Zapata family speak about the death of Angie Zapata:

 

In a recent article, CBS Channel 4 in Denver published this photo of Zapata’s alleged killer, Allen Ray Andrade:

 

According to the CBS Channel 4 caption, “Allen Ray Andrade, 31, faces several charges, including second-degree murder in the death of Justin Zapata, 20, who was known as Angie Zapata. Her bloodied, battered body was discovered in her apartment by her sister on July 17.”

 

 

August 6, 2008 Posted by | Bludgeoning, Colorado, Latino and Latina Americans, Law and Order, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, transgender persons | , , , | Comments Off on Greeley Police and the Zapata Family Speak about Angie Zapata’s Murder

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