Tag Archives: gay panic

Denver’s CBS News affiliate reports: Using a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity as an excuse for murder or violence is no longer a valid defense in Colorado courtrooms. Colorado is now the 11th state to outlaw the so-called “gay or trans panic defense.” The most publicized case where the defense was used is the Matthew Shepard murder trial in …

ABC News reports: A measure prohibiting homicide defendants from claiming a defense that panic brought on by a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity has been passed by lawmakers in Washington state. Nine states — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey New York and Rhode Island — have legislatively banned the use of gay or transgender panic as …

NBC News reports: New Jersey on Tuesday became the ninth state to prohibit homicide defendants from claiming that panic brought on by a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity could be used a legal defense. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed the measure, saying it promotes “full equality for all our residents.” “Gay and trans panic defenses are rooted in homophobia …

Politico reports: New Jersey could soon bar a legal defense tactic in murder cases known as “gay panic,“ under a bill the state Assembly approved on Monday without opposition or debate. The defense has been used to attempt to downgrade charges against defendants who argued that they killed because they were provoked by the disclosure of the victim’s gender identity …

The New York Times reports: Since as early as the 1960s, defense lawyers have introduced the idea that people accused of violent crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people had acted in a state of temporary insanity caused and justified by their victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The legal strategy, known as the “gay panic” or “transgender panic” …

The Nevada Current reports: The bill, SB 97, was sponsored by the Senate Committee on Judiciary on behalf of the Nevada Youth Legislature and bans the “gay panic” or “trans panic” defense, which attempts to reduce sentences for alleged criminals by arguing that their violent actions were provoked or justified because their knowledge of the victim’s sexual orientation or gender …

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: The use of a panic defense to justify anti-LGBT violence in federal court will come to an end if new legislation introduced this week by a pair of Massachusetts Democrats becomes law. The bill, introduced by Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass.) in the U.S. House and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) in the U.S. Senate, …

USA Today reports: Starting in January, Illinois will bar a rare criminal defense allowing the use of a victim’s sexual orientation as justification for violent crime, a ban gay rights advocates say they will attempt to replicate in about half a dozen states next year. Defense attorneys will no longer be able to mount the so-called “gay panic defense” in …

MetroWeekly reports: Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed two bills into law that will help LGBTQ people achieve greater equality under the law. The first eliminates what is known as the “gay panic” defense in murder cases. Historically, the “gay panic” defense is when a defendant claims that the murder victim was homosexual and made a pass at them, making them …

Slate reports: On Wednesday, the Illinois House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill prohibiting the “gay panic” defense, which allows alleged murderers to defend their actions in court by arguing that their victim’s sexual orientation “triggered” their crime. The bill also bars the “trans panic” defense, which alleged murderers may use to justify the killing of a trans person on …

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 …

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

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …