Judge Denies Lesser Charge in Angie Zapata Murder Trial.
The Angie Zapata case is moving to trial. The judge refused the defense attorney’s plea to reduce the charges (yes, he actually tried that tired and deceptive gay panic defense). Good on the judge! This case screams hate crime from the rooftops.
…..
The defense was asking for a lessening of charges, specifically that the bias portion be dropped because this was a crime of passion and that Andrade’s reaction was provoked and caused understandable aggression.
…..
If anyone doubts that this is a hate crime, just listen to Andrade’s words and actions:A man accused of beating a transgendered woman to death told his girlfriend in a phone call that he “snapped” and that “gay things need to die.”
The phone calls made by Allen Andrade, charged in the murder of the transgender woman Angie Zapata, while in jail to his girlfriend detailed that something bad had happened and that Andrade had made a mistake.
…The phone calls were also laden with derogatory remarks towards homosexuals, and he stated that people in jail are scared of him because of his reputation for wielding a fire extinguisher, which is the suspected murder weapon.
When Andrade’s girlfriend said her cell phone was dying during a call, he said that was gay and that gay things need to die.
How anybody could claim those actions were understandable and provoked is beyond me. No reasonable human being behaves like that. But then homophobes aren’t reasonable. And that’s what some people fail to grasp. Thankfully more people are finally beginning to grasp the truth, however.
There will come a day when nobody will consider it reasonable to batter another person to a pulp because they don’t approve of who they sleep with or what their gender presentation is. I don’t know if I’ll live to see that day–in fact I doubt it given the current climate. But I can always hope.
And Angie, rest in peace. It looks like Andrade is going to be put away for a very, very long time.
