Homosexual Panic Defense?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic_defense
Gay panic defense is a term used to describe a rare but high-profile legal defense against charges of assault or murder. A defendant using the gay panic defense claims that he acted in a state of violent temporary insanity because of a little-known psychiatric condition called homosexual panic. Trans panic is a similar defense applied towards cases where the victim is a transgender or intersex person.
What are your feelings about this? Do you think it's for real?
Comments
I think that homosexual panic is nothing more than a legal attempt to use a jury's prejudice against gay people to allow the murderer of a gay person to get a lighter sentence.
In another city in my state, a gay men went missing and his mother told police she feared he had been harmed because he was gay. A week later two fishermen pulled a suitcase from a lake and found his body inside. He was identified by personal items found with the body and a tattoo.
After a suspect was arrested and the case went to trial, it was shown that the suspect purchased the suitcase six days before the murder. The suspects aunt said that he had planned to kill him because he was gay, but that she did not believe him. The suspects cousin said that he had admitted to the crime. The suspect admitted to the murder, but said he did so to fight back to protect himself from being raped.
The jury found the suspect not guilty of murder, but guilty of second degree manslaughter. The self-confessed murderer became eligible for parole 2½ years after the trial.
Wow this one is on the tipping point for me. If it were a woman, and she killed a man because of a sexual advance, then should she be set free? That's the question, luring aside. Actually it's unjust. He could have beaten the guy and then called for an ambulance, and used the gay panic defense, but instead he hid the body. This goes above and beyond defense when you go into body disposal. And yes, he should get brought up on some kind of hate-crime charges, it's weird that noone commented on it. It might be that they're waiting until he makes parole to hit him with the charge, though that'd be weird. It's sort of funny, if a woman made a sexual advance on me, and I killed her, it would be inexcusable. Hmmm. I hope this stuff doesn't open the door for people to bash gays and try to justify it.
It's real. But courts rarely accept that "defense" anymore. It's quite stupid really, it's just an excuse to get away for murder.
I think that for some people, just being near a gay person probably is enough to get them worked up, but that's not an excuse for assault or murder, and it shouldn't be acceptable in court.
Gay people exist. People need to get over it.
I think that's just an excuse for hate crimes. Temporary insanity? More like a permanent state of disillusionment.
I think it's a load of bull.
If you assault or murder someone because of their orientation it should be a hate crime.. none of this psychiatric condition crap, it isn't, it's just they're a terrible person inside.
I think it's real, but irrelevant.
It can explain why it happened, but it should not be used as a means to reduce/weaken sentences.
I think it is a bigots way of committing a hate crime and getting away with it.
Temporary insanity.... it's insane period lol
It is a homophobic excuse for murder