Killer Confesses He Hates Gays, Prosecutor Refuses Hate-Crime Charge

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/NewsContent/082603kyMurder.htm

A Kentucky man charged in the killing of a gay acquaintance confessed to his relatives that he murdered the victim because he hates homosexuals, but the prosecutor in the case a hate-crime charge is not necessary.

Josh Cottrell is accused of strangling Guinn "Richie" Phillips with a belt and then stuffing Phillips' body in a suitcase. The suitcase with Phillips' body in it was later found floating in Rough River lake.

[cprise]

1. Jesus!

(kick)

[neuvocat]

2. I guess if you admit it, then its ok.

Stupid hypocrite!

[demdave]

8. No, if you admit to the crime of murder then you should get death

and this hate crime foolishness would be moot. What are they going to do? Kill him twice?

Since I have read repeatedly in this forum that the death penalty is not a deterent, then how can ANY additional punishment short of it be a message or a deterent to anyone else with this sort of warped mind?

[Syn_Dem]

3. *sigh* The state of America today...

:kick:

[PartyPooper]

4. I don't understand this at all.

This guy allegedly killed an acquaintance BECAUSE the victim was gay. And, it's not a hate crime? If NOT a hate crime...what WAS it?

Also, in a related matter, the alleged killer of that defrocked priest in the Mass. prison, reportedly admitted to killing the former priest BECAUSE he was gay. No mention was made of the child abuse conviction (as being part of the motive for the crime). AND, this alleged killer is presently serving a sentence for killing ANOTHER gay. WTF?

Does any one else see a pattern here? Anybody remember Mathew Shepard? DUH!

[donotpassgo]

5. Whats the f--ckin point? He's already in for life.

.

[LeftCoast]

6. the backlash cometh...

Be prepared for much worse. I pray that nothing happens, but knowing the Xian Fundamentalists, their rage at the recent advances for GLBT equal rights certainly has the potential to drive some of them to greater and greater acts of domestic terrorism.

They'd better be careful though...can you imagine Queer Nation + Pink Pistols?

LeftCoast

[MotorCityMan]

10. I agree, LeftCoast

I've been telling my partner since the SC ruling on sodomy that there is going to be a backlash.

Can't have us homos getting all uppity and thinking we are entitled to equal rights. Plus, gays are always a great way to get the fundies all riled up.

[Xithras]

7. In the prosecutors defense...

...it can be harder to "prove" hate crimes in court. If the prosecutor thinks he has sufficient evidence to send this guy away for life (and it sounds like he does), there may be little point to the extra effort. Because our system still works on the "Reasonable Doubt" premise, adding a hate crime enhancement can actually create a legal loophole to set killers free. If you charge someone with murder, you only have to prove that they killed someone. If you charge them with murder with a hate crime enhancement, you have to prove that they killed someone AND prove what was going through their head at the time. This could potentially create the situation where a jury feels that the murderer is guilty of the killing, but maybe isn't convinced about the hate crime aspect. In that case, the jury could return a NOT GUILTY verdict simply because the crimes of the accused didn't match what he was charged with. The law rarely allows for differentiation, so if the jury doesn't find the defendant guilty of the ENTIRE charge, they may not be able to convict him of any PART of that charge (different states do implement this differently).

This is why many prosecutors try to avoid "over"-charging defendants...while they may hope for stiffer penalties, they also raise the bar on what they must prove. It appears that the prosecutor in this case believes that he can get a life sentence without the hate crime charge, so I can understand why he doesn't want to give the defendant a potential way out.

[Pert_UK]

9. Fair points, well made.....better than the "What's the point?" comments

On a practical level, if it makes conviction easier and doesn't lessen the potential sentence then this is a smart play.

Of course, you could argue that the guy should be tried for the specific crime he committed, but as murder is murder I don't think it matters in this instance - it's not like he's being tried for manslaughter instead of murder.

However, I disagree wholeheartedly with the posters who say "What would be the point of charging him with a hate crime? He'll get the same sentence anyway!". It's important because it draws public attention to the fact that people are still being repressed, assaulted and killed because of their sexuality. It shows that this isn't a random killing by a deranged man, it's a targeted killing by a bigot. It won't be reflected appropriately in hate crime statistics, and could therefore suggest that hate crimes are dropping more than they are.

Finally, it's important because if labels this guy as the piece of shit that he is - he's a homophobic, deeply prejudiced asshole who chose to kill someone simply because of the sexuality that they were born with.