Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 09:58:57 -0500 (GMT-0500) From: "Thomas W. Holt Jr." Subject: Info on the Mississippi Murders (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 24 Nov 1994 17:57:33 -0500 From: Dionisio To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: Info on the Mississippi Murders (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Newsgroups: bit.listserv.gaynet From: llovich@aol.com (Llovich) Subject: Mississippi Murders Date: 21 Nov 1994 22:10:13 -0500 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) SUSPECT IN MISSISSIPPI MURDERS INDICTED; Judge Allows Defense to Test Vicitms Blood for HIV Antibodies (Washington, DC) -- The 16-year-old suspect in the killing of two gay men in October in Laurel, Miss., was indicted on November 10 on two counts of murder. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. During the arraignment for Marvin McClendon, bond was set at $100,000. Circuit Court Judge Billy. J. Landrum granted the defense's request to test the frozen blood samples of the victims for HIV antibodies. McClendon is charged with murdering Joseph Shoemake and Robert Walters, two openly gay men, whom the defense alleges made sexual advances toward his client. Civil rights activists with the political advocacy organization Gay & Lesbian Americans have been monitoring the case and are alarmed that the judge allowed Shoemake's and Walters's blood to be tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, because they fear McClendon's lawyer, J. Ronald Parrish, will try to revile the victims as "homosexual predators with AIDS." According to a November 10 story in the Laurel Leader-Call newspaper, Parris, "said there have been cases in other states in which persons with HIV have been charged with attempted murder for trying to have close contact with another person, through sex or other means." Jeannene Pacific, the Jones County District Attorney, countered that "HIV is irrelevant to the case since McClendon never mentioned to investigators that he was afraid he would be given AIDS." GLA sent two national coordinators to Mississippi in late October to conduct first-hand research into the murders. At that time, Parrish indicated he might mount a "homosexual panic defense" to absolve his client of any wrongdoing. The "homosexual panic defense" is a dubious legal strategy where the defense lawyer claims his client acted in self-defense after a gay man supposedly has made homosexual advances, which in effect puts the victims, and their behavior, on trial. A spokesman for GLA, Michael Petrelis, blasted the judge's decision to test for HIV. "First we saw the defense attempt to demonize the victims as 'homosexual predators on the prowl.' Now, we fear the defense is further vilifying Shoemake and Walters by claiming they may have been infected with HIV," said Petrelis. "We are outraged that the judge has consented to irrelevant posthumous HIV testing of the victims' blood samples. Landrum apparently beleives the myth that gay equals HIV-positive, which is why we doubt if justice for Shoemake and Walters is possible in his court." The judge set the trial date for January 30. -- TwinkCode v1.12 T8(6!) C3 L5w dv a- w- c+v y! e k(-) s- m1 m2+ GEEK 2.1 GS/L/O !d(?) H++ s+: g+ p? w++ v>!v C+ US+ P--- E- N++@ K++ !W M+ -po+ Y t+@ 5++ j+ G tv b++ !D B- e+ u(++) h f r n+(-) y+(**) Finger for PGP 2.6.1 public key And the Thought of the Moment (tm) is... Always use tasteful words. You may have to eat them.