MANSLAUGHTER CONVICTION TROUBLING IN STABBING MURDER OF TRANSGENDER FRESNO RESIDENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 26, 2005

Contact: Cory Jasperson, Assemblymember Lieber’s Office,
Phone: 916-215-9463

Contact: Steve Hansen, Equality California,
Phone: (916) 501-0525

Contact: Christopher Daley, Transgender Law Center,
Phone: (415) 771-7304

MANSLAUGHTER CONVICTION TROUBLING IN STABBING MURDER OF TRANSGENDER FRESNO RESIDENT

Assemblymember Sally Lieber Joins Equality California and Transgender Law Center in Calling for Reform

Sacramento, CA - Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that Estanislao Martinez is to be sentenced to the minimum 4 years in jail after he confessed to stabbing Jose Robles to death in August of 2004. The Fresno County District Court and District Attorney's Office allowed Martinez to employ a "gay or transgender panic" strategy to receive a lenient conviction and sentence. Robles, a transgender Fresno resident, is reported to have been stabbed 20 times by Martinez.

"It is incredibly sad that another defendant seems to have been able to rely on the 'gay panic' defense to shift the blame for his actions," said Assemblywoman Sally Lieber (D-San Jose). "As a state, we must ensure that our courts are a place where bias--whether based on race, gender or sexual orientation--does not prevent victims from obtaining justice."

"I am extremely troubled that this sentence sends a message that murder is not murder if the victim is transgender," said Geoffrey Kors, Executive Director of Equality California. "Now is the time for our elected officials to come together and create reform so that LGBT people and their families will be able to rely on the criminal justice system to treat them fairly."

Comparing the job done by the Fresno County District Attorney's office in the Robles slaying to the work being done by the Alameda County District Attorney's office in the Gwen Araujo trial, Transgender Law Center Director, Chris Daley, said, "The performance of the different offices are on opposite ends of the spectrum. In Fresno County we have what seems to be a near abdication of their responsibilities whereas in Alameda County we see an office committed to protecting all residents in the county."

The Transgender Law Center (TLC) is a civil rights organization advocating for transgender communities. Every day we connect transgender people and their families to technically sound and culturally competent legal services, increase acceptance and enforcement of laws and policies that support California's transgender communities, and work to change laws and systems that fail to incorporate the needs and experiences of transgender people.

Founded in 1998, Equality California is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots-based, statewide advocacy organization whose mission is to ensure the dignity, safety, equality and civil rights of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians. Equality California is one of the largest and fastest growing statewide LGBT organizations in the country. We can be contacted through our website at http://www.eqca.org.

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