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Originally Posted by St. Araqiel
Methinks the fucker is in need of a lethal injection. But at least he didn't get away with it.
If it was up to me, "gay panic" would be no defense.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ila
I'm glad he got at least life in prison.
Hopefully the justice system is starting to take violence aganist transwomen seriously.
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Well, I'll add my voice to those applauding the court's ruling. At heart and on the surface, I'm generally not a supporter of "hate crime" legislation simply because I think that if you kill someone, then you've crossed a line of no return and SERIOUS consequences should follow, no matter who you are. Honestly, if you've KILLED SOMEONE -- if you've actually taken another life -- then odds are pretty damn high you deserve to have your ass handed to you, in one way or another (unless you can show it was in self-defense, like a woman protecting herself from a rapist, that kind of thing). I generally feel that if a person is attacked and somehow the other person dies, I'm willing to give you a pass for self-defense. I think most people feel that way. But if you KILL someone on the road by being a stupid drunk driver or you attacked someone and killed them in a violent rage (as was the case here), then you're up shit's creek as far as I'm concerned. No excuses will be tolerated.
In terms of giving him a lethal injection to pay for his crime, that's the larger debate of the death penalty and whether you believe in it or not. As for Ila's point about the system finally taking notice, I certainly hope so -- but that goes back to my "hate crime" stance. I just think the justice system OVERALL should be far, far, FAR stricter in terms of punishments given out, certainly in cases where someone has died. Yes, I'm a real law and order type of guy.
Frankly, the sheer fact that this guy was even allowed to use "gay panic" as a defense would have me wide-eyed in the court room if I had been a juror. And had I been the Judge, I certainly would have leaned forward and sternly said, "Counselor, approach the bench with your client." Then in a whisper and leaning over the bench, I would have simply added, "You're not ACTUALLY going to use such a LAME defense, are you? SERIOUSLY, if that's going to be your story for why you KILLED a fellow human being, I'm gonna spare everyone the time and money involved in this case and just bang my gavel right now and send your ass off to jail because that is SO FUCKING PATHETIC it's not even worth listening to."