The man who confessed to the recent gruesome murder and dismemberment of a gay teenager in Puerto Rico has been found mentally competent to stand for trial, reports EDGE New York. In December, an initial court-ordered psychiatric evaluation of 26-year-old Juan A. Martínez Matos found he was incompetent to stand trial for the murder of 19-year-old Jorge Steven López Mercado. López' family and local activists were outraged and believed Martínez was faking mental illness.
Michael K. Lavers at EDGE reports:
Territorial psychologist Rafael Cabrera reported his findings to Judge Miriam Camila Justino during a hearing in Caguas earlier this morning. "The quest for justice has begun," Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force told EDGE in a text message sent from inside the court house. Local authorities have pledged to prosecute Martínez under the territory’s hate crimes laws, but activists and elected officials on the island and around the country remain outraged over Gov. Luis Fortuño’s continued silence. "There are a lot of people who are extremely angry about how the governor has responded to this situation," New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said as she spoke at a fundraiser for López’s family [last night] in Manhattan. Quinn is among the lawmakers from the five boroughs and Chicago who will travel to Puerto Rico on Tuesday to meet with López’s family and LGBT activists.
Martínez has confessed to killing López on November 13 in what is described as "gay panic". Police say Martínez confessed to stabbing, decapitating, dismembering and partially burning the teen’s body before dumping it roadside near Cayey.
To date, Puerto Rico's Republican Gov. Luis Fortuño, who resisted efforts to prosecute the case a hate crime, has yet to publicly comment on the López case. But this week Fortuño did say the Commonwealth's current laws banning same-sex marriage don't go far enough and the island needs a constitutional marriage ban. Priorities, priorities ...
GREAT NEWS!!! He needs to stand trial!
Posted by: CC | 13 January 2010 at 12:43
Gov. Luis Fortuño is a dick.
Posted by: Taylor Siluwé | 13 January 2010 at 13:48