A Real Plea? The Gay Panic Defense

A weird and unusual legal defense that can be used in court to justify gay hate crimes is called the "gay panic defense." Similar to the plea of insanity that many people often use to get out of their legal troubles, the gay panic defense can help murderers of gay people never see jail time. The way it works is simple; just say that a gay person came on to you and it made you so angry and humiliated that you had to kill him/her. In a court in West Virginia and Georgia, the gay panic defense may actually work. It has worked in the past. Dean Ludwig Bethoven from Harrisville, West Virginia was acquitted of murder after he killed Dean Pickman, who allegedly gave Bethoven a ride home from a bar and then took him home and licked condiments off of his body while he was sleep. Bethoven told the jury that he "went crazy" and used the gay panic defense and the jury acquitted him of the charges. In Georgia, a man was acquitted for confessing that he beat a man to death who he claimed performed oral sex on him at gunpoint. One of the defendants in the highly publicized Matthew Shepard murder case tried to use the gay panic defense, but did not get away with it and was convicted of first-degree felony murder.

Although used in the past and successfully, the gay panic defense doesn't always work and is being fought against by many lawyers, activists, prosecutors, and police officers to have it removed from court systems and have it removed as an option to be acquitted of charges. Some states, including California, New York, and Wyoming, who already bans using temporary insanity defenses, are trying to eliminate the gay panic defense from being used in courtrooms.

I think that the gay panic defense is really stupid and should never be considered as a way to be acquitted of murder against a gay person. No matter how humiliated, embarrassed or whatever kind of emotion was felt, that is no reason to kill someone. Killing someone is still a crime no matter what and whoever does it should be punished. The gay panic defense is a very asinine way to defend yourself from being convicted of a hate crime, which is really what people who use the gay panic defense do. It is a mere excuse.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2005_April_12/ai_n13606961
http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2006/07/07/1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic_defense
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