Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Call me a poof and I kill ya
A good Op Ed in todays Herald by Alison Laurie prompted this - "'Homosexual panic' defence must go."
I'll kill ya - but it won't be murder. Such was the case in the David McNee trial where Phillip Edwards used, successfully, the notion of "homosexual panic" to reduce his conviction from murder to manslaughter. He was guilty of manslaughter but not murder because there was no murderous intent, Edwards' lawyer Roy Wade told the court.
This is seriously wrong - and the fact that the Judge told the Jury to consider a "provacation defence" is also disturbing. A known criminal (street wise one would imagine) is picked up for a "look but don't touch" sex session. Two men go back to the house, the 'client' breaks his side of the bargain and goes to touch - this is not part of the deal.
The key here is the response.
Rather than Phillip Edwards demanding the cash at the moment things went too far (and some extra coin on top for the broken promise) and simply walking out (I wouldn't mind if he helped himself to a couple of bottles of booze for the inconvenience as well) - he proceeds to beat a man to death. With his hands.
How the hell can a lawyer claim there was no "murderous intent"? Christ knows what this punk is capable of if this was just a tickle up (excuse the context). If this sort of defence can fly we will be in real trouble. It appears that we are.
