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Colo. man convicted of murdering transgender woman

Allen Andrade, 32, of Thornton, was sentenced to life in prison without parole* after being convicted of killing Angie Zapata, 18. The jury deliberated for just two hours before finding Andrade guilty...

...Prosecutors had argued Andrade knew for hours that Zapata was biologically male and beat her to death because he disliked gays. They said Andrade had attended a court hearing with Zapata where court officials used her legal name, Justin...

...During the trial, prosecutors played recorded jail conversations where Andrade referred to Zapata as "it" and said it wasn't as if he "killed a straight, law-abiding citizen."

*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.

[ila]

Originally Posted by St. Araqiel

Colo. man convicted of murdering transgender woman

*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.

I'm glad he got at least life in prison. Hopefully the justice system is starting to take violence aganist transwomen seriously.

[Bionca]

This was an amazingly hard time for me personally. This case resonated with me very deeply given I was around Angie's age when I was first sexually/physically assaulted by a guy I had been intimate with. I hadn't realized it, but I have been pretty messed up since I first heard the story in July. It wasn't until I was reading the verdict on Twitter and broke down sobbing that it all hit me.

[CreativeMind]

Originally Posted by Bionca

This was an amazingly hard time for me personally. This case resonated with me very deeply given I was around Angie's age when I was first sexually/physically assaulted by a guy I had been intimate with. I hadn't realized it, but I have been pretty messed up since I first heard the story in July. It wasn't until I was reading the verdict on Twitter and broke down sobbing that it all hit me.

Sorry for your flow of tears, Bionca, but try to look on the bright side here -- hard as that might be given that sadly a life was lost. Finally justice WAS delivered and this bastard DIDN'T get away with it. He's going away for the rest of his life and frankly if this guy thought he had "gay panic" before then wait till he gets to the big house where I'm SURE he will be a continual target for retaliation from the moment he steps through those doors. This guy will spend the rest of his life not only paying for his crime, but constantly looking over his shoulder and living in fear. So in some ways I'm glad he didn't get the death penalty since that almost would have been an easy out for his bastard.

Best of all, a legal precedent has been set so that "gay panic" will have less standing in future cases. In the future, courts will be able to look at this trial and ram home harsher sentences. What really worked here...and what will be the key to future victories in court...is for more prosecuting attorneys to completely focus on the victim being an actual PERSON. So maybe Angie can rest a bit more in peace knowing her sacrifice and lost life will now help so many othes in the future. We can all only hope so.

[smc]

As satisfying as we may find it to see harsh punishment meted out to those who terrorize or kill as this guy did, I fear the real solution does not lie in the criminal justice system. It will take the concerted effort of all of us to combat prejudice at every turn, teach our children well, insist on civil rights (including marriage) for all, and so on, and so on, and so on, until those who spew hate cannot get a hearing and until having sex with any other consenting adult, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, is so "normalized" (sorry to use that word, but it's the correct one) that "gay panic" and similar psychological bullshit fades away ... because there is simply nothing to be panicked about.

Utopian? Perhaps. But we have to change how society sees gender and sexuality to get rid of this scourge of violence.

[CreativeMind]

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.

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.

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."