Outrage Over 180-Day Maximum Sentence and "Gay Panic" Defense in Killing of Maryland Man

There is outrage and more questions than answers in the case of a teenager who killed a black gay Maryland man in a brutal street attack in Washington, D.C. and plead guilty to a misdemeanor, avoiding substantial jail time.

On Thursday, 18-year-old Robert Hanna plead guilty to misdemeanor assault in the September 2008 death of Tony Randolph Hunter,. Under the plea arrangement, the maximum possible sentence the 18-year-old Hannah can receive is 180 days in jail. Gay activists in the nation's capitol have called this a "miscarriage of justice", the Washington Blade reports.

Benjamin Friedman, a spokesperson for the United States Attorney’s office, which prosecutes most criminal cases in the city, said his office could not comment on the case other than to note the grand jury decided on the simple assault charge after it "reviewed the evidence and considered the appropriate charges."

But gay D.C. attorney Dale Edwin Sanders, who has practiced criminal law in the city for more than 20 years, took strong exception to Friedman’s assessment. "Make no mistake about whose decision it was," Sanders said. "The grand jury signed off on the decision made by the prosecutor." Activists say the action by the grand jury has exacerbated already strained relations between gays and police and the U.S. Attorney’s office over the case, which surfaced last fall.

On September 7 2008, 37-year-old Tony Randolph Hunter and a friend were severely beaten as they were headed to the BeBar, the popular gay club. Severe blows to the head left Hunter in a coma and lingering ten days in a vegetative state. Police arrested Hanna on October 15 for voluntary manslaughter in connection with the attack.

Police initially claimed the attack was motivated by anti-gay bias but later said they had "insufficient evidence" to support that motive. Hanna used a "gay panic" defense and his lawyer argued that Hunter touched grabbed his client's crotch and buttocks. Hunter’s friend says Hannah and three or four other men punched him and Hunter. The victim also tells police the attack was unprovoked and Hunter "never made sexual advances toward Hannah or anyone else." The U.S. Attorney declines to say whether Hunter’s friend was called as a witness before the grand jury.

Washington D.C. is home to one of the largest black gay communities in the nation. Why do D.C. black gay activists remain silent on Tony Randolph Hunter's death and the outrageous plea arrangement? Are circuit parties and barbecues more important?

Some Background...
Killer of Gay MD Man Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor [R20]
Fenty to Meet with Activists on Anti-Gay Violence [R20]
DC Police Say Fatal Attack Robbery, Not Hate Crime [R20]
"Gay Panic" Defense Alleged in Brutal DC Murder [R20]
DC Police Make Arrest in Brutal Killing of Gay Man [R20]
Fenty to Increase Fight Against Anti-Gay Hate Crimes [R20]

Comments

[Carlos]

Very good question. Where are the DC black gay activists? They have been as silent as church (queen) mice.

[Anthony in Nashville]

Wasn't DC Black Pride just a few months ago?

I would say I'm surprised that nobody has stepped up, but I think it's very typical of the black gay community to fight for the right to party but not to exist beyond the club.

[Ravenback]

How long does it take for outrage to reach your heart and soul? Six days? As I've said before, our gay brothers will chase a piece of hot trade until they're breathless, but once scream out one time against a miscarriage of justice against one of our own. That's a sad indictment on the gay black community.

Rod, thank you again for showing your outrage by reporting on this story as it happens instead of waiting days and weeks after the fact.

[alicia banks]

shame!

gay hatred is cool in amerikkka

ps:

obama's swindleus plan has slain another gay man

langston hughes
see more at:
http://aliciabanks.blogspot.com/

[Chitown Kev]

Yeah, after the silence of the DC black gay community of the possibility of the marriage referendum and now this... the DC black gay community is officially on the tired list.

Here in Chicago there are a few black AND white gay activists that would have raised more than a stink about this. smh

[QH]

This is crazy & again makes you feel unsafe when justice isn't even meted out on something that would be a common sense ruling. The guy who killed the victim should be behind bars, point blank.-QH

[Ravenback]

@ alicia banks

With all due respect, don't blame President Obama for this. Gaybashing and murders of gay men have been going on long before President Obama. He didn't tell this scum to do this, he didn't encourage it, and he didn't condone it. Whatever your grievances are with President Obama, this one is not a valid one. The gay black community has to take this one on the chin because many sat back and said nothing as this piece of human trash got just 180 days in jail.

[Ravenback]

@ alicia banks

ps:

The murder of Tony Randolph Hunter occurred on September 7, 2008. President Obama wasn't President and hadn't even been elected yet at that time.

[Nathan James]

This apparent willingness of the US Attorney to present a watered-down case to the grand jury, plus the astonishingly light punishment Hanna received, tells me that gays and lesbians are clearly still considered "less than". A message is being sent here, that the LGBT community is still looked upon as "deviant", "provocative", and "wrong".

The use of the "gay panic" defense in this and several other recent gay-bashing cases (The police raid at the Rainbow Lounge in Texas, for example, in which Fort Worth cops beat a gay patron into a coma, then alleged he made "sexual advances" towards one of the uniformed cops, as justification for slamming him headfirst into a wall, and the attack against transgender Carmella Etienne, for another. Her attackers claimed she provoked them by "voguing" and "flirting") and the willingness of police, the public, and juries to accept this defense, makes the message clear: if you are visibly gay or lesbian, this is considered justification for any beat-down you bring upon yourself for daring to be out and proud.

Further, it is intended as a warning to the LGBT community that we should, like the black community during (and after!) the Jim Crow era, "know and stay in our place." No expressions of gayness in public. No expressions of gayness in art, literature, or theater (ask the homophobes at Amazon about that) No expressions of "gender non-conformity". For SURE, no public displays of affection or gay pride. Test these rules at your peril! Belive it, faithful Rod readers, the situation is getting worse.

At Tiffany Jimenez' court hearing on Monday, I heard several people commenting on how unusual it was for the Brooklyn DA (ostensibly a friend of the gay community in election years) to insist on trial for a minor charge (DisCon) rather than an ACD, particularly when there is evidence of gross misconduct by the arresting agency (NYPD). But into the dock Tiffany will go, because she is an outspoken, proud lesbian woman, guilty only of making that fact about herself publicly known.

The relevance to this post about Hanna's astonishingly lenient treatment at the bar of justice is this: Like all the other examples I've put forth here, Hunter was killed because he dared to be openly gay. That was all the justification Hanna (and society, by extension) needed to condone the taking of a human life.

More and more these days, I'm feeling like a Jew in WWII Germany, a man of color in the Jim Crow south, or a gay man in pre-Stonewall Rebellion days. I feel that to express my gayness through any medium, whether dress, carriage, writing, activities, or associations, is to risk injury or death equal to the risks faced by those historical people I just mentioned. It depresses me utterly.

[Bobby R]

@alicia banks

You always have something negative to say about President Obama. You were notorious on Keith Boykin's site for saying malicious things against President Obama and now at Rod's site.

This is a story about a miscarriage of justice in the DC community and not the President. An injustice that I hope is not met by silence for too much longer by the DC black LGBT community

[Ron]

Yes...where is the black gay activist reaction? As much as I criticize white gay leaders and spokespeople, had this been a white guy that killed that gay black man, I'm sure you'd be hearing a lot more outrage and comments from black gay activists.

[nathans]

Shame shame shame
... 180 days is not even a slap on the wrist...

I hope this gay man did not die in vain.

[k.g.]

Obama, isn't our savior. We are our saviors. During his speech on the day he took office, Obama said, it's time WE roll up our sleeve and get busy in our community. Why is there no Public Gay Black/Latino rally cry, marching in the streets in DC the way Al Sharpton would do? Because WE won't do the work. We'd rather be outraged by who's out and who's not. People are dying for being OUT and nobody marches or stands up for them. Kids are being attacked, killed, in middle school for "appearing" to be GAY and nobody stands up for them. We prefer TMZ and blogs rather than taking to the streets.

[Taylor Siluwé]

Are circuit parties & BBQ's more important to many of us? Sadly, yes.

Attending those venues has the allure and potential of meeting a man, your next ex-lover, next jump-off, etc. But at a rally to express understandable outrage and to send a message that Black LGBT's are numerous, powerful, and a voting block NOT to be screwed around with or taken for granted -- all we get in return is a sense of power, pride, dignity, and a reconnection with our long lost balls.

It would seem that a new man and a quick comfortable screw is more attractive to many. Because there will be no angry rallying of DC's massive gay 'community' this weekend, but the clubs will be hoppin'.

[kevjack]

As I mentioned earlier, if we do not value our lives who will? Are the parties and the circuit and the clothes and underwear models more important than your ability to walk down the street without fear of being beaten to death?!?

I believe that this death should serve as a wake up call for all of us. This could have been any of us!

[Dalton]

KG: People are dying for being OUT and nobody marches or stands up for them. Kids are being attacked, killed, in middle school for "appearing" to be GAY and nobody stands up for them. We prefer TMZ and blogs rather than taking to the streets."

Congratulations for finally venturing beyond Terrell Carter. But you have it wrong.

WE know kids are being killed. WE talk about every day on this "blog."Facebook, Twitter and the gay political and news blogs are the Stonewall 3.0. Marches are organized, letter-writing campaigns are here, bloggers ask ppl to donate to candidates from Obama to Anthony Woods (black gay West Point grad discharged under DADT and running for Congress). But Rod 2.0 is a far cry from TMZ, lov. Rod and Pam Spaulding are the only black gay bloggers who get invited on White House conference calls. So yeah, they have some juice.

But you're absolutely right. Some of us do the work. Others defend the right of other black gay men to stay closeted.

[Ravenback]

@ kevjack

And you are right. This was me 20 years ago. I was the target of a gaybashing. Fortunately, I came out on top. I was simply walking to my car as I had left a birthday celebration for a friend of mine at a gay bar. Because I had left early because I had to work the next day, I was by myself. Two thugs saw it as an opportunity to bash my head in. I know first hand how things can change on you at the drop of a hat.

[alicia banks]

i despise obama and every other gaybasher in america

obama has pimped the gay community for our votes and done nothing but betray us ever since

i will neither be a doormat or instructed by doormats

and

i said obama slew langston hughes!

fyi

[alicia banks]

any person who is black and gay yet dares to be an obama fan is DUALLY suicidal

fyi:

The blackish President Barack Obama/GWB 2.0 never has anything to say about specifically black economic crises.

His swindleus package has done nothing to save a single homeowner of any race from foreclosure. As always, white homeowners have severe colds. But, black homeowners have fatal influenzas!

The most recent black casualty of Obama is a legendary literary icon and heroic gay man who, if living, would pen some typically powerful prose about elitism and racial betrayal… His name? Langston Hughes.

See this latest legendary black loss here:

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/07/house_where_langston_hughes_li.html

http://gawker.com/5320360/what-happens-to-a-mortgage-deferred

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Minorities-Hit-Worst-by-Foreclosures.html

[alicia banks]

dear bobby r:

thank you oh so very much for remindiing me about just how LONG i have been both consistent and clairvoyant re: obama/gwb redux...

thanks!

[Brien]

Miss Banks,
I find it appalling that while folks on this blog are calling others to action, you have taken to the old ritual of the blame game. Shame on you. Your method gets nothing done - 'cept infesting this blog. tsk tsk!!

[Ravenback]

@ alicia banks

We have had our disagreements over President Obama, and I have voiced agreement with you on other issues. But this is where I must draw the line. I cannot from this point forward endorse or agree with anything you have to say. You have jumped the shark tank.

On a subject matter as serious as a gay man being brutally murdered, the scumball attacker being slapped on the hand with 180 days in jail, and the utter silence of the gay black community, you have chosen to use this as a platform to attack President Obama. You have made outlandish, outrageous, and disgusting comments blaming him for Tony Randolph Hunter's murder when you know you are wrong for that.

I now put you in the category of the "birther" people who claim that President Obama isn't the legitimate President of the US because he isn't an American citizen and he was born in Kenya. You have about as much validity as those folks. I will never comment on what you say, and please extend to me the same courtesy by not saying anything about what I say. Agreed.

[TB]

the US Attorneys prosecutes crimes in Washington DC. that is the Justice Dept, which has come under a great deal of fire for that blatantly homophobic brief defending DOMA. the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

[TheRevKev]

Alicia Banks, I hope that you are doing something OTHER THAN showing up on OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS and making comments about subjects that have nothing to do with the topic. I know that there are many that are angry at the President, but really...here...now...with a topic as tender to this room as a murder? You use THIS to beat your one-woman-hate-drum against the President?

SHAME ON YOU!

I hope that we don't lose focus and Rod, I would love it if you would post some DC organizational information (Maybe the DC COALITION or some other LGBT group there...haven't been involved in DC since I moved away from home in 2000) so that we can find a way to keep this and other hate crimes AT THE FOREFRONT!

SHAME SHAME SHAME.

BLACK GAY MALE = 6 MONTHS IN JAIL! WOW.

[alicia banks]

i email obama daily just as i blog daily

i will lcontinue to do both

just as i will continue to despise him until he actually and belatedly does something to earn the adoration you lend

fyi