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| Marco McMillian |
Marco McMillian, an openly gay candidate
for mayor in the small Mississippi town of Clarksdale, was beaten and burned,
and his body dragged under a fence and left alongside a Mississippi River
levee. The cause of death has not been released. An autopsy was performed, but
toxicology tests are pending, and authorities say it could take two weeks to
get those results.
McMillian's godfather, Carter Womack, says the family
received the information from the Coahoma County coroner, though coroner Scotty
Meredith has yet to publicly comment, and a spokesman for the Coahoma County
Sheriff's Department is also staying quiet for now.
A statement released by McMillan’s
campaign says, "We feel that this was not a random act of violence based
on the condition of the body when it was found."
Lawrence Reed, twenty-two, has
been charged in the case. He was arrested last month after he was found driving
McMillan’s SUV after it crashed into another vehicle on U.S. Highway 49. McMillan
was not in the car; his body was found the next day.
Police have ruled out a hate crime—something McMillian’s
friends and family members want reconsidered due to the brutal nature of the
homicide—because, sadly, Mississippi does not
have a state hate crimes law, meaning that federal charges would be required.
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| Lawrence Reed |
Apparently Reed and McMillian had
known each other for about two weeks, and may have had an intimate relationship
during that time. But, it is also being reported that Reed, who
identifies as straight, may have “snapped” as a result of sexual advances on
the part of McMillian. He may, in fact, use the Gay Panic defense.
Gay Panic. I’ve talked a lot about gay panic on this blog,
especially after ALLEGEDLY straight
men murder gay men with whom they were intimate. And I’ll say it again: there
is no such thing as Gay Panic in defense of murdering someone, beating them to
death, burning parts of their body, and then dropping the corpse off in the
weeds like a load of garbage.
That took planning; that took preparation. That is not
panic.
And, if we are to continue hearing of Gay Panic defenses,
when will we hear the first Straight Panic case? I mean, say I, as a gay man,
met a woman at a bar and we hit it off. If she made some kind of sexual advance
toward me would I be allowed to beat her, burn her, drag her body to the river
and dump it, and the say I did it because I felt a Straight Panic?
Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Well, that's how Gay Panic sounds to me.
You really hit the nail on the head!
ReplyDeleteTime for that defense to retire.
ReplyDelete(PS comments on florist story up to 233 this morning - pro and con)
One of the things that I learned from my father was that 1)if its a robbery and someone gets killed, "something went wrong"; 2) If its a crime of passion - ie the killer intimatly knows the victim (baby shaking, a lovers quarrel, etc.), they are more likely to be a one time offender and 3) When a murderer (and its important that I called them a murderer, because that takes preplanning) beats someone up, defiles a corps (chops them up) or involves a sexual crime on top of the murder with the victim, then they most likely know the victim well because all that takes up a lot of time and a lot of energy.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, juries are more likely not to give a murderer a death sentence if the body is cut up and they only find pieces parts. Why? Because its harder for juries to conceptualize the parts as a human being.
As usual, well said. Thanks.
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