Abolish 'legal' lynchings LESBIANS & GAYS ON DEATH ROW By Anya Mukarji-Connolly On Feb. 7, the state of Missouri executed Stanley D. Lingar, a gay man convicted of killing a teenager in 1985. This execution of Lingar and that of disabled African American lesbian Wanda Jean Allen in Oklahoma are two of the four recent death-penalty cases that have received national attention due to the severe homophobia that permeated their trials. In the case of Stanley Lingar, the only issue raised in the sentencing phase of his trial was the fact that he and his co-defendant were involved in a consensual same-sex relationship. An attorney representing Lingar said that the aim of telling the jury about the defendant's sexuality was to "inflame a homophobic jury from a rural area with prejudicial evidence that Lingar was a practicing homosexual, a fact that the prosecution believed the jury would find morally offensive." Lingar appealed to the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which refused to overturn his conviction. The court held that the introduction of his homosexuality to the jury was "harm less" and "did not contribute to the jury's death verdict." In Texas, the case of Calvin Burdine has gained national publicity. Burdine's original trial attorney slept through portions of the trial. And when the lawyer was awake, he remained silent when the prosecutor made homophobic arguments to the jury. The most outrageous of these remarks was the prosecutor's urging the jury to sentence Burdine to death rather than life imprisonment because sending "a homosexual to the penitentiary certainly isn't a very bad punishment." The jury was made up of a number of jurors who had expressed anti-gay views before being chosen. This was also not objected to by Burdine's original attorney. During the trial, the prosecutor used a 1971 "sodomy" conviction resulting from a consensual sexual relationship to argue that Burdine was likely to commit criminal violent acts in the future. In 1999 Burdine's conviction was overturned, not based on the homophobia that dominated his trial, but rather on the denial of his right to counsel. The court reasoned that unconscious or sleeping counsel is equivalent to no counsel at all. An appeals court then voted to reinstate the conviction. Now on appeal to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, the court has held that the case must be reheard. In the case of Wanda Jean Allen, an African American lesbian who was executed on Jan. 11 by the state of Oklahoma, the prosecutor labeled Allen as the "man" in the relationship in order to persuade the jury that she was more capable of being violent. Allen and Lingar, both recently executed, suffered from brain disabilities. Allen suffered from severe developmental disability resulting from skull traumas. Lingar's attorney also argued that his client was borderline developmentally disabled. The fourth of these recent death penalty cases involving gay and lesbian defendants is the case of Gregory Scott Dickens in Arizona. Dickens, along with his co-defendant and former boyfriend, were charged with the 1991 robbery and murder of two people. Dickens, who did not pull the trigger, was sentenced to death, while his co-defendant who testified for the prosecution was sentenced to 55 years in prison. Dickens' attorney argues that he did not receive a fair trail because the judge was homophobic. Judge Cole, who presided over Dickens's trial, had written several letters to his own gay son saying things such as, "I hope you die in prison like all the rest of your f----t friends." Judge Cole maintains that he was capable of handling Dickens's case fairly. In this society the death penalty has been used arbitrarily to punish members of oppressed communities. It is used disproportionately against the poor and people of color. Over 3,200 individuals--disproportionately people of color-- sit on death row in the United States. None of them are wealthy. Prior to 1976, the Supreme Court held that the death penalty was illegal because of its racist use. Today, it is clear that the death penalty is also used to inflict severe punishment on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Capitalist society is built on a foundation of racism, sexism and anti-lesbian/ gay/ bi/trans oppression. It is no accident then that this ideology pervades the criminal injustice system and its laws--both created to protect private ownership of wealth and property, not the lives of poor and working people. It's time to wage a large-scale fight to abolish the racist, bigoted use of the death penalty--a weapon of terror in the hands of the capitalist state. And lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people of all nationalities have been in the forefront of this struggle, particularly in the battle to save the life of death-row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
