Justice on Austin Hate Crime
By Karl-Thomas Musselman
The Statesman reported today that two of the four males involved in a hate crime against a gay man here in Austin last year have been sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Donald Bockman, 25, and Darren Gay, 22, faced up to life in prison on charges of aggravated robbery and aggravated sexual assault. When they pleaded guilty last month to aggravated assault, prosecutors recommended the 6-year sentences.
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All four were accused of picking the victim up at Oilcan Harry's in the Warehouse District and going to his apartment in Southeast Austin, where police said they smashed a glass against his head, punched him, kicked him, whipped him with a vacuum cord and poked and prodded him with swords and daggers.
According to court documents, the group also used a sex toy to assault the man, who is not being identified because of the nature of the crime.
Roy Minton, the attorney for both Bockman and Darren Gay, said his clients attacked the victim because he attempted to make a sexual advance on Glen Gay. (Why is this always the lame excuse given in every one of these cases? -kt)
The men declined to say anything before state District Judge Brenda Kennedy sentenced them. Before they were put in handcuffs and taken to jail, the victim called the men cowards.
"You are not real men at all, merely self-righteous, self-serving cowards," he said.
Interestingly, Darren Gay (and why do these things always seem to involved some straight attacker with the last name of Gay) has a UT facebook profile where he is listed as having 7 friends at UT, a girlfriend at St. Eds, and an about me section saying "Went into the Texas Penitentiary System on October 6th for aggravated assault (6 years). But I bet I'll parole out in 3. See ya'll in 2008!!!"
If we could move towards a world of respect and tolerance for our GLBT citizens, and not attack them or their rights, maybe the world would be a nicer and safer place in which to live.
Posted by Karl-Thomas Musselman at October 6, 2005 03:54 PM
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Don't know why this gay (er, guy, gay guy?) has his pix in the "Face Book." I don't know what the "Face Book" is, having just now been denied access to same. But we have an excellent report from K-T along with a mugshot from the "Face Book" so we know about this violent criminal and can see what looks like. I feel sorry for the cat, except that pets normally aren't allowed in the State Pen, so maybe it (the Kitty, not Gay, the guy or whoever) will get a reprieve from the ASPCA.
Why did the defense attorney raise the old canard about the victim making a sexual advance? Roy Minton used to have a good reputation. The answer is probably the old saying that if the facts and the law are not on your side, you just pound the table, throw a lot of mud and hope some of it sticks. Most jurors these days are sophisticated enough to know that even if an advance was made, the perp could have said no and walked away like a man rather than resorting to violence and "sex toys" (both of which are often illegal in Texas). Good to see they didn't fall for it this time.
One of my favorite pastimes used to be going to the courthouse and taking snapshots of gay bashers--I started doing so after establishing an anti-violence program at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center about 20 years back after moving here from Houston. Usually the bashers were quite surprised, and ran and hid when I whipped out the camera (I am looking at one those pictures now, one with the basher hiding his face behind a piece of paper). Kudos to K-T for the post as well as the warm and cuddly photo.
