[blind-democracy] Re: FW: Gay panic

From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2016 20:34:07 -0500

More good points here Chuck. I think that these sentencing guidelines are going
to change someday so that reason might just prevail.

They are very destructive these sentencing guidelines and most especially on
non-violent crimes including most drug crimes.
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Charles Krugman (Redacted sender "ckrugman" for DMARC)
  To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Sent: Monday, March 07, 2016 6:50 PM
  Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: FW: Gay panic

  in the old days that would have worked. However, in today’s court system
where much of the sentencing is determined by statute and not by judicial
discretion leaving things to be determined at sentencing have become pretty
meaningless as is exemplified with Federal sentencing guidelines.
  Chuck

  From: joe harcz Comcast
  Sent: Friday, March 4, 2016 3:35 AM
  To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: FW: Gay panic

  I'm of a sort of middle ground on tthis Chuck. I can see where so-called "gay
panic" might be used to mitigate terms of sentencing, but not the actual guilt
or innocense of a charge itself.

  In other words it is a mitigating issue in sentencing only, not the criminal
action.

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Charles Krugman (Redacted sender "ckrugman" for DMARC)
    To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Sent: Friday, March 04, 2016 1:06 AM
    Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: FW: Gay panic

    actually there is another side to this. As a gay male I know that there are
men who actually will deceive other people in how they pose or dress as a means
of concealing their real sexual identity. There are people who when confronted
by this deception will react in such a way that could result in violence toward
the perpetrator of such a ruse. I think that this type of deception is
unconscionable and having been a counselor for years and working in the legal
defense field I know people that would be shocked or insulted that they would
lose control and act accordingly. As a gay man I opposed the legislation in
California that was ultimately passed for this reason in addition that people
that deceive others give a bad name to the group that they are trying to claim.
Now I know that this opinion doesn’t fit in to the idea that progressives need
to tolerant any aberrant behavior engaged in by a so-called minority class but
the bottom line I am upset more that a personally will hide their sexual
identity to entrap a person in order to engage in sex act rather than a
defendant who reacts to this can’t use any defense possible and let a jury
decide so when I got this petition in my in-box I hastily deleted it without
signing.

    From: Bob Hachey
    Sent: Friday, February 26, 2016 6:59 AM
    To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: [blind-democracy] FW: Gay panic

    Hi all,

    Here’s one that shocked me and that’s hard to do these days. Can you
believe that in 49 states, homophobes can use “gay panic” as self-defense?

    Now, That’s American injustice at its best!

    Cynically Speaking

    Bob Hachey



    From: Change.org [mailto:mail@xxxxxxxxxx] ;
    Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 7:13 AM
    To: bhachey@xxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: Gay panic






                           Trending petition








                            Robert – There's a new petition taking off on
Change.org, and we think you might be interested in signing it.






                                Petitioning Utah State House, Utah State
Senate, Utah Governor

                                Ban the Dangerous Panic Defense in Courtrooms








                                 Petition by Aspen Nielsen

                                Hyrum, Utah



                                 6,320


                                Supporters



















                                When I first heard of the “panic defense,” I
was shocked. A legal defense that asserts that feeling panicked at an LGBT
person’s romantic advances justifies assault or murder? And it’s legal? It
turns out that it is a permissible defense in 49 out of 50 states, and has been
used to fight or reduce many people’s charges.

                                I heard about it in the 2008 murder case of
15-year-old Larry King in California. He had asked Brandon McInerney to be his
valentine. McInerney came to school later that day and shot King two times in
the back of the head. When McInerney went to court for his crime, he used the
gay panic defense. Because of this, McInerney received only a lesser second
degree murder sentence.

                                The panic defense is anti-LGBT, anti-civil
rights, and anti-American. Please join me in calling on Utah state lawmakers to
ban the panic defense, in hopes that other states follow suit.

                                And young Larry King was just one of many
victims whose murders didn’t get the justice they deserved because of this
grossly prejudicial defense. We can’t let this go on in a free country.
California recently made good on a promise not to let such a miscarriage of
justice happen again. In 2014, it became the first (and only) state to
officially ban the “panic defense” in court. It’s time for the other 49 states
to follow suit. Please call on Utah state officials to ban the panic defense in
Utah courts. We must not stop fighting this travesty of justice until it is
outlawed in all 50 states.











                            Sign Aspen’s petition








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