Thursday 23 April 2009

Not Guilty

In the trial of Angie Zapata, she has been found Not Guilty of the charge of being less than human.

Her killer, Allen Ray Andrade, on the other hand, has been found guilty of murder in the first degree, and with a bias crime enhancement. When he said
"It's not like I just went up to a school teacher and shot her in the head, you know what I mean? It's not like I went up to a law-abiding straight citizen."
The Jury thought otherwise, and thereby acquitted the murder victim of all charges.

Some people do not realise how big a deal this is. You see, in the last 30 years, close on 1000 transgendered women have been murdered in the USA. In many cases the prosecution proved pre-meditation.

But the last time anyone was convicted of murder in the first degree, merely for killing a "tranny" was in 1977. None since. Not once.

Here's a summary of the outcomes of the previous two cases where a trans woman was killed in the US, and they caught the killers:

Alexis King was shot in a drive-by that went wrong. Using an illegal firearm, the killer shot her once in the side, then once again in the back as she staggered away for help. But his van wouldn't re-start, so he ditched the gun before the police came. They found it though, with his prints on. He raised a "Trans Panic" defence. Verdict : Voluntary Manslaughter

Amancio Morales was stabbed 24 times by her killer, her body put in the trunk of his car, then dumped in a river. The killer fled to Mexico, but was arrested on his return as he'd confessed to friends and family what he'd done. He raised a "Trans Panic" defence. Verdict: ATTEMPTED manslaughter.

In Greeley, Colorado yesterday, a jury took only two hours to find Angie was a full human being, and that her death in a pre-meditated crime was murder in the first degree.

This is as big a deal as obtaining a conviction against a white man for killing a black teen in Alabama in 1950. It changes the rules.

In terms of the sentence for Angie's killer, it makes no difference. He was going to go down for 64 years without parole on the other charges. But in terms of the trial of Angie Zapata, it meant everything. Her validation as a human being.

Of course some disagree. From The Denver Channel
JOE says:
Today, 11:16:28
“MUCH RESPECT TO ALLEN ANDRADE HE INSPIRED MY NEXT TATTOO "ALL GAY THINGS MUST DIE" FREE ALLEN

ToTellYouTheTruth says:
Today, 14:41:58
“Murder should be punished by life in prison or death. Now, that being said, the trans gender community should WAKE UP and realize that people have LIMITS. We're trying to be tolerant, non-judgmental, and fair but then one of you PULLS A NASTY FAST ONE like this and BAM! We get dead man and a life wasting away in prison. You can't provoke someone and then act like the victim when the object of your antagonism explodes! No, the dude did not deserve to die, but had he lived, he should have been charged with sexual assault or rape, because his unwitting "partner" did NOT give his CONSENT to homosexual acts. At the very least Justin deserved a good beating.

Bettina says:
Today, 07:59:23
“What is happening in this world? This man was RAPED by Justin. How dare ANYONE go about their lifestyle (regardless of male or female) and lead another to believe they are who they are not! Yes, he will face his true sentence when he answers to God, who created each of us as we are, under Natural Law, not conditioned to be someone we weren't meant to be. God bless Allen Andrade and his family. Also bless the family of the Justin, the victim, and allow them to view this situation as an example of what can happen when we go against Natural Law, the way God created us.

Strongeztman replies:
Today, 05:09:06
“I must respond to the comment prior to mine…this product of 'Sodom and Gomorrah' is "not a creation by my Master or Savior in any way of the means…" he was the creation of people that cognizes as you and that has enabled people as such to behavior in the way that he died. this dude received what his hand asked for!!! He deceived the wrong man this time and "HELL" his surly lifted his!!! Read the book of "Romans" and acknowledge and accept the "Laws" of God regarding 'Sexual Conduct!!!" God has not and does not alter Thee 'Laws' that was ascribe for us to follow for the purpose to satisfy defile desire of mankind!!!
*SIGH*

14 comments:

MgS said...

Heaven help any of those goons if they need to transition later on in life.

Like Marley in Dickens' A Christmas Carol, they are forging the chains that bind them link by link, yard by yard.

Lloyd Flack said...

The peole who sympathized with Andrade are distressed. They feel that their values are being trampled on. Their distress brings me joy. The distress of the evil who feel that they are virtuous is a lovely thing.

RadarGrrl said...

You could also mention the Gwen Araujo case, in which her killers used a trans-panic defence and got off comparatively lightly. Sucks.

Anonymous said...

i reckon we should thank the people who charged Allen for first degree murder. they would have know that the defense would go for a trans panic defense.

din

Nikola Kovacs said...

I'm with Lloyd!

I find the way conservatives / the religious right form their arguments fascinating. It's amazing how they seem to take the same line: spread a lie, induce fear, often state that the sky is falling, claim they are the victim ...

But I've never really looked into the way they retreat. Maybe this case and all the comments etc that Zoe has provided here will assist with that?

Anonymous said...

If those peoples' god were to see them, he would weep.

amiautogynephiliac said...

Hi, Zoe. This is my new blog:

http://amiautogynephiliac.blogspot.com/

Bad hair days said...

@Auto

I looked at your blog and liked it - beside one thing. Why do you stick with that name?

Laserlight said...

"I find the way conservatives / the religious right form their arguments fascinating. It's amazing how they seem to take the same line: spread a lie, induce fear, often state that the sky is falling, claim they are the victim ..."

Because, you know, it's not like liberals / the moonbat left would ever do such a thing.

Stereotyping is so much fun, and anyone can play--including people who've been on the receiving end enough that they ought to know better.

Zoe Brain said...

Nicole - you do know that I'm a NeoCon, don't you?

Look, there's too much these days that is not about Right vs Left; it's not even about Right vs Wrong; it's about the Rational vs the Irrational.

RadarGrrl said...

Zoebie, having had a chance to chat with you at length, I find you to be anything but neo-con. You're pretty damn progressive in my book...and I'm usually to the left of most people.

Nikola Kovacs said...

I do agree that we are all capable of including spin in our arguments, and that most of us do.

In the case of conservatives and/or the religious right, I tend to believe that an excessive amount of scaremongering is often used. It seems from what I read of these people's arguments against diversity, in particular transsexualism, is that they employ the same tactics, in the same order and oftentimes even use the same phrases.

Transsexuals having rights? What next … (insert any number of "analogies" that deny their bigoted attitudes to be displayed without rebuff, or any one of a seemingly unlimited supply of invented and totally nonsensical "analogies")Zoe, I wish all conservatives were as progressive as you.

blue said...

NeoCon is a progressive doctrine (hence the "Neo").

Thanks Zoe for the update on this case - that is great news.

Lloyd Flack said...

I saw a juror's explanation of the verdict on the CNN legal blog. The jury believed that Angie was in the habit of telling people of her status. They believed that he had plenty of opportunity to find out. The juror said that it was Andrade who was deceptive for not revealing his criminal past. The jury believed that he had plenty of opportunity to just leave rather than murder her.