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Crawled into a nearby field, where he died, alone and naked.

This story just makes my stomach go into knots. A brutal hate crime of Aaron Hall in Jackson County, Indiana where the barbaric murder of this young man took place. Police found Hall's body 10 days after his death wrapped in a tarp in the garage of Jackson County Deputy Coroner Terry Gray, whose son is one of the accused. The accused are only 18,19 and 21 years old.

From DailyKos
Two young men in Jackson County Indiana said they were so 'freaked out' when 'propositioned' by Aaron Hall on April 12th, that they proceeded to beat the 100 pound, 5'4 man for hours, using their fists, boots, dragging him down a staircase while his head slammed into each step, and then throwing him in a ditch and leaving. Aaron managed to crawl out of the ditch and out into a nearby field, where he died, alone and naked.

You see, the story is even stranger than it appears. Some contend that the young men made up the story about having been propositioned so as to use the 'gay panic defense,' in hopes of getting a more lenient sentence. Apparently the thinking was that exposure to homosexuality is so frightening that well... heck, anyone would go crazy and beat the hell out of a guy for hours, then toss him in a ditch to die.

A number of Hoosier bloggers have wondered at the lack of local coverage. In the interest of promoting this case, I thought I'd bring it out here for your perusal. This is a horrific crime, and while I don't promote the kind of overdone sensationalism (carried on for weeks at a time) evidenced on CNN and Fox News, this man's death should draw some notice. It should serve as a warning, at the very least. Whether Hall was or wasn't gay isn't the point. The fact that the teenagers used this as their defense... speaks volumes.


The so-called "gay panic" defense has been used by Matthew Shepard's killers, as well as by Gwen Araujo's murderers. The "gay panic" defense has been ruled moot in California.

So does this mean that if a straight person were to come onto me I could kill them and use the "straight panic defense"? Come on now people. Turn it around. It's ridiculous.

There is a full account of the investigation so far over at The Bloomington Alternative.

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By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/13/07, 12:16 PM

And the right wing says we do not need hate crimes legislation.

Onanite    



By Blogger Gavin S., at 6/13/07, 12:19 PM

And something like 7 in 10 Americans support hate crimes legislation, like that of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Although Bush wants to veto it.    



By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/14/07, 8:09 PM

The reason for the lack of media coverage is no doubt due to the fact that Garrett Gray is the son of deputy coroner Terry Gray. It was in Terry Gray's home that the murder occurred over a period of several hours. The body was found in his garage after Hall had been dead for 10 days. Police are hoping that the gay panic defense will take the focus off of that fact.
The real issue here is not whether or not Hall was gay, but rather what are the local boys doing to conceal evidence against one of their own.    



By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/19/07, 3:31 AM

I'm more than willing to believe the "good ole boys" theory, given an incident that occurred while I was living in Des Moines a couple of years back. While leaving a local gay bar, a man named Michael Moon was assaulted (and eventually had his leg broken) by a man screaming religious invective.

When they finally caught the perp, Matthew Connolly, he turned out to be the 29-year-old stepson of a county supervisor. (What's more, in the meantime, he had chased a woman through downtown Des Moines at 80 mph in his truck during a counter-protest against the infamous Fred Phelps.) They eventually sentenced the perp to sixty days of electronic home monitoring. (Surprise!)

That same month, Bo Lopez, a greatly respected Hispanic community activist who had recently applied for citizenship, got deported (with the eager cooperation of local authorities) due to a minor paperwork irregularity in his efforts to clean up a five-year-old misdemeanor conviction.

This disparity ought to highlight how all marginalized groups in this country are really "in it together" -- how we need every tool we can get (such as effective hate-crime legislation) so we can pursue our basic human right to live our lives free of harassment and interference.    



By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/12/07, 2:06 PM

It is really tragic such things still happen in America in the year 2007, an example of how even in a more enlightened area gay men are stil so hated in society. And what is even more sad is the way the mainstream gay community still remains welcome only to white gay men. I wish gay men would realize our true strength comes when we see each other as equals...but I realize this is probably too much to ask.    



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