The defense in this case makes me sick.
But an attorney for Allen Andrade said the case is about the
woman's deception and Andrade's reaction to that deception, not
whether Angie Zapata <http://www.angiezapata.com/> 's lifestyle was
right or wrong.
"This girl that he had just spent the last day with, was in fact a
man, and Allen snapped," defense attorney Bradley Martin declared in
opening statements.
Oh yes, the "trans-panic" defense (a variation on what's been used to
justify beating GLBT people to death for years) It's the most
intellectually vacuous excuse making I've ever seen - especially when
it's murder.
Accusing the victim of "deception" hardly justifies a murderous
response under any circumstances. If you are so fragile that learning
someone is transgender is a threat to you equivalent to having a gun
pointed at you, then perhaps you shouldn't be trying to date people
yet.
The defense argument is ridiculous and offensive. To accuse a
transsexual of being "deceitful" for living their life is beyond
offensive, it demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of the
transition process itself, and the WPATH standards of care which
clearly obliges the transitioning person to live at least a full year
in their chosen gender before they are candidates for Gender
Reassignment Surgery.
Nieto showed jurors partial transcripts of tape-recorded jail
calls in which Andrade allegedly told his girlfriend that he "snapped"
and that "gay things need to die."
In another transcript, Andrade downplays the slaying. "It's not
like I went up to a school teacher and shot her in the head, or killed
a straight law-abiding citizen," he said in the transcript.
Martin said the jail calls were taken out of context as Andrade
joked with his girlfriend about a crime he knew he didn't commit.
"Taken out of context" - ah yes, the excuse of politicians everywhere.
In this case, the excuse of a murderer trying to justify to himself
his own actions.
Let me be very, very clear here. Murder is murder. You cannot justify
it based on some ridiculous excuse like "I panicked because she was
transsexual". There is no way that someone being transsexual poses
that much of a threat to anybody.
If the judge allows this defense to prevail, it will be open season on
transsexuals across America. Sadly, this kind of defense is being used
because it has been successful before - when it had no right to be.
Posted by MgS at 4/17/2009 05:44:00 AM
Labels: Angie Zapata, GBLT, Law, Murder, Transsexuals
http://crystalgaze2.blogspot.com/2009/04/blame-victim-angie-zapata-edition.html