Kathy Padilla sent me a link to an article from the Philadelphia Gay News entitled Killer of trans woman sentenced to 5 years. She prefaced her email about the sentencing of Alexis King’s killer by sending me the link with this statement:

I suppose I should feel grateful any sentence was imposed at all.

Since a panic defense was raised, I suppose Kathy, our transgender peers, and I should feel grateful that Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart didn’t, in this bench trial, acquit the now convicted killer.

Inside his car, Oates discovered that King, a biological male who dressed like a woman, had a penis.

He then shot King twice near Bott and Kerbaugh streets in Nicetown about 6 a.m.

Oates was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and weapons offenses in August by Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart after a nonjury trial. The judge yesterday also sentenced Oates, an Olney man who had no prior record, to five years’ probation following his prison sentence.

The judge had acquitted Oates of murder.

At the trial, Feeney, who sought a murder conviction, had passionately argued that malice was behind the shooting, according to the Philadelphia Gay News, which covered the trial.

Defense attorney Brian McMonagle had contended that the shooting occurred during “pandemonium” in the car after Oates felt King’s penis, after the two struggled for Oates’ gun and after King moved toward Oates, according to the newspaper’s report.

Oates told police in a statement that he didn’t realize King was a man until King grabbed Oates’ hand and placed it on King’s penis.

To add insult to injury, Alexis King’s murder is listed on the Philadelphia Homicide Victims in 2006 as “Brandon King”:

At least the Philadelphia Gay News article wasn’t prefaced with an offensive headline — like the article on the sentencing was by the Philadelphia Daily News:

5 years in jail for killing a woman who wasn’t

[Below the fold: Filling out the story from the Philadelphia Gay News; as well as information on California's Gwen Araujo Justice For Victims Act that addresses defendents using "gay panic" or "trans panic" defenses.]

Read the rest of this entry »

On August 9th, a memorial service was held for Angie Zapata.

The Greeley Tribune covered the service in their article Friends, family gather to say goodbye to slain woman.

My friend Donna Rose was there, and wrote about it in her blog entry Angie Zapata Vigil. She’s been collecting photos of the service, and has posted these in a slide show.

Angie Zapata Vigil – Greeley, CO – Aug. 9, 2008

[Below the fold: Donna Rose describes the service; the effect of hate crimes.]
Read the rest of this entry »

From horrible reality:

Denver Post: Transgender victim referred to as “it”:

Allen Ray Andrade never referred to his alleged victim as a she or he. Just “it.”

That alone speaks to the brutality of the crime committed against 21-year-old Angie Zapata, said a group that has been speaking for Zapata’s family.

“You get the sense that maybe he wasn’t seeing Angie as a person,” said Crystal Middlestadt, director of Training and Education for the Colorado Anti-Violence Program. “Then you get an idea of the violence behind this act.”

~~
From GLAAD’s Media Reference Guide:

DEFAMATORY TERMINOLOGY

…Defamatory: “she-male,” “he-she,” “it,” “trannie,” “tranny,” “gender-bender”

These words only serve to dehumanize transgender people and should not be used.

To horrible press coverage:

UK’s Metro: Duped lover kills transsexual with fire extinguisher:

A furious dupe has been accused of murder with a fire extinguisher after discovering a woman who gave him oral sex was born a man.

Allen Ray Andrade allegedly battered Justin Zapata to death in a fury after discovering the truth.

He had believed the partner he picked up online was a woman known as Angie Zapata.

~~
From GLAAD’s Media Reference Guide:

DEFAMATORY TERMINOLOGY

Defamatory: “deceptive,” “fooling,” “pretending,” “posing,” or “masquerading”

Gender identity is an integral part of a person’s identity. Please do not characterize transgender people as “deceptive,” as “fooling” other people, or as “pretending” to be, “posing” or “masquerading” as a man or a woman. Such descriptions are extremely insulting.

With regards to Angie Zapata’s killing, there’s just not much to add to the GLAAD Media Guide’s indirect commentary on the alleged killer’s dehumanization of Angie Zapata, and the Metro‘s insulting coverage.

~~~~~
Related:
* Arrest In Killing Of Angie Zapata
* Murder in Colorado

… that I’m disappointed again that the “deception” “discovery” defense has credibility with anyone. Levi Gunderson? Did he punt this case? “Yah, you betcha.”

Levi’s got way less (nevermind “fewer”) balls than Marge … not that, speaking personally, I think there’s anything wrong with that … but just don’t not have them in the judicial sense.

Do we have any math majors here? Can 85% of 8 3/4 years really only be not much more than seven years for this … ?

The alleged murderer in the 2005 slaying of a gay man pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted manslaughter in agreement with prosecutors.

Ruben Solorio Valenzuela faces a prison sentence of 8-3/4 years if the agreement is accepted by Yuma County Superior Court Judge Andrew Gould.

Although Gould was not able to attend Tuesday, the plea agreement was presided over by Superior Court Judge Mark Wayne Reeves.

Reeves also said the suspect will be required to serve 85 percent of his sentence before being eligible for release.

Prosecutor Levi Gunderson acknowledged that Solorio Valenzuela did not plan the alleged murder but acted suddenly, in the heat of passion resulting from the rage and humiliation he felt when he discovered Corrales was actually a man.

Corrales, a 23-year-old gay man, was a cosmetologist who also performed as a female impersonator known as Dalila, impersonating celebrity singers.

Corrales was dressed as a woman the night he and Solorio Valenzuela met. After several attempts to fondle Corrales, Solorio Valenzuela realized his mistake and then allegedly stabbed Corrales.

Corrales’ body was discovered on May 6, 2005, floating 500 feet west of Paradise Cove, just west of Joe Henry Park, with multiple stab wounds. He died from what authorities called “violent trauma.”

Yuma County sheriff’s deputies arrested Valenzuela on May 23, 2007, at Express Lube, 1900 S. 4th Ave., where he had been working. An anonymous written tip led to his arrest.

Subsequent investigation disclosed Solorio Valenzuela had confessed to family members soon after the murder. The day of the killing, he fled to Guadalajara, Mexico, for three months, according to court records.

Maribel Corrales, the victim’s mother, briefly addressed the court Tuesday while trying to hold back sobs. Speaking through an interpreter, she said, “He didn’t kill a person but a whole family. I don’t agree (with the plea). It is not fair.”

Solorio Valenzuela had been booked into Yuma County Jail on one count of second-degree murder, but a grand jury later indicted him on a charges of manslaughter and abandoning a body.

In exchange for the plea, the state suspends the original count. Solorio Valenzuela could be ordered to pay restitution of $150,000 as well as an additional 80 percent of that amount at his sentencing, Gunderson said.

Like Marge, I’m not amused.

This stinks.

My heart goes out to Maribel Corrales, who got it right …

“[This] is not fair.”

This story may not be specifically trans-related, but this quote …

Now, said Daniel G. Fish, a noted elder law attorney, “‘She looked so young’ is no defense.’’

… did remind me a bit of some of the absurd and indecent “deception” arguments trotted out in “trans panic” defenses over the years.

As someone who cares for a parent who’s not many years younger than Rose Morat (and as someone who grew up and spent almost half their life in NYC), I’m pleased that Gov. Paterson and the New York State legislature did the decent thing passing this legislation.

(And maybe sometime soon the New York State Senate will do another decent act … and pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act.)

Happily, in these cases of “deception,” wasps don’t “panic” and orchidphobic violence is not a result …

Orchids that mimic female wasps may not only waste the time of the male wasps they lure into spreading their pollen — they also seduce them into wasting valuable sperm, Australian researchers reported on Wednesday.

And the flowers benefit twice — getting help in their own reproduction, and perhaps indirectly producing more male pollinators in the process.

Some of the most exotic orchids are known to have evolved their convoluted shapes to attract insects, who unwittingly collect and transfer pollen as they try to mate with the flowers.

“The effect of deception on pollinators has been considered negligible, but we show that pollinators may suffer considerable costs,” Anne Gaskett of Macquarie University in Sydney and colleagues reported.

“Insects pollinating Australian tongue orchids (Cryptostylis species) frequently ejaculate and waste copious sperm,” they wrote in a report in The American Naturalist.

It is not harmless to the wasps, who may suffer more than an inconvenience. “Male pollinators can prefer orchids to real females, prematurely end a copulation with a real female to visit an orchid, or be unable to find real female mates among false orchid signals,” the researchers wrote.

“Unquestionably, producing sperm, ejaculate, or seminal fluids is costly for many animals. The energetic demands of sperm production can result in reduced body mass, a shortened life span, or limited lifetime sperm production,” they added.

But this arms race of sexual trickery works in more than one way for the flower. “We also show that orchid species provoking such extreme pollinator behavior have the highest pollination success,” they added.

“How can deception persist, given the costs to pollinators?”

They found that the wasps who frequent these flowers are haplodiploid species. Like bees, ants and similar species, offspring produced by sexual unions are female, while females can also produce males asexually.

“Therefore, female insects deprived of matings by orchid deception could still produce male offspring, which may even enhance orchid pollination,” the researchers wrote.

Gaskett’s team examined flowers after wasps visited them and found the hoodwinked males did eventually learn their lesson.

“With experience, male Lissopimpla excelsa wasps become less likely to copulate with and pollinate sexually deceptive Cryptostylis orchids,” they wrote.

Sexy orchids do more than embarrass wasps?

The orchid, by the way, gets its name from the Greek όρχις orchis, meaning “testicle.”