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MANSLAUGHTER CONVICTION TROUBLING IN STABBING MURDER OF TRANSGENDER FRESNO RESIDENT
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.
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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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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I am tired of the judges in this state. Every damn time a TG/TS person is killed some moron judge goes and makes their lives that much more dangerous. Time for some accountablity, and time to make change.
TG/TS people deserve and demand justice.
Time for a r__t? Oh sorry Civil disobedience.
(Oh sorry for the anger, BUT the killing has got to stop and killers need to pay.)
TG/TS people deserve and demand justice.
Time for a r__t? Oh sorry Civil disobedience.
(Oh sorry for the anger, BUT the killing has got to stop and killers need to pay.)
I'm sorry this is surfacing again.
After Robles' murder, the "hate crime" issue came up. There were discussions in the local gay community about what had happened and why. Then GLAAD began pursuing the hate aspects.
Robles' friends and family asked that the "hate crime" angle NOT be pursued. The family was unaware until the murder that Robles was gay, let alone cross-dressed. Some family members were very distressed at the publicity and some were definitely not queer-friendly. Robles' funeral was essentially private--queers not allowed to come.
From my investigations into what happened, there are questions whether the killing was hate-motivated. There were rumors that both people were under the influence, and that the killer thought Robles was indeed a biological female. One of the issues that was never resolved publicly was why Robles was over in Fresno's Chinatown the night he died.
I hope that EQCA had the concurrence of Robles' friends and family before issuing their press release or bringing the legislator into the situation. Otherwise, they all may have done a disservice.
After Robles' murder, the "hate crime" issue came up. There were discussions in the local gay community about what had happened and why. Then GLAAD began pursuing the hate aspects.
Robles' friends and family asked that the "hate crime" angle NOT be pursued. The family was unaware until the murder that Robles was gay, let alone cross-dressed. Some family members were very distressed at the publicity and some were definitely not queer-friendly. Robles' funeral was essentially private--queers not allowed to come.
From my investigations into what happened, there are questions whether the killing was hate-motivated. There were rumors that both people were under the influence, and that the killer thought Robles was indeed a biological female. One of the issues that was never resolved publicly was why Robles was over in Fresno's Chinatown the night he died.
I hope that EQCA had the concurrence of Robles' friends and family before issuing their press release or bringing the legislator into the situation. Otherwise, they all may have done a disservice.
Never forget. Stonewall was a RIOT! Not a tea party for quasi-radicals who have NEVER been willing to sacrifice their precious priviledge of soft, clean hands and clear consciences for the downtrodden.
"As for we who have decided to break the back of colonialism, our historic mission is to sanction all revolts, all desperate actions, all those abortive attempts drowned in rivers of blood." - Frantz Fanon
559 RISE UP!
"As for we who have decided to break the back of colonialism, our historic mission is to sanction all revolts, all desperate actions, all those abortive attempts drowned in rivers of blood." - Frantz Fanon
559 RISE UP!
Not to detract from the historical importance of Stonewall, but if you are citing it as an example of a revolutionary model, it should be noted that the "riot" was started by homophobe police and then a drunken hetero who didn't care two-damns either way, he just hated the police, and was drunk. Only then did anything of revolutionary significance happen, after the "riot" was instigated by a drunk.
"Only then did anything of revolutionary significance happen"
think what might be achieved if people planned ahead and did not let their fate be determined by the will of a cop-hating drunk
had he not been there to chuck bottles at the cops, Stonewall would have been little more than another cop round-up of local gays
had he not been there to chuck bottles at the cops, Stonewall would have been little more than another cop round-up of local gays
No offense, Stonewall is past history. It has nothing to do with NOW. Fuck the past the future is now and TG/TS people in California generally get treated like shit, and its getting old. The job of a government is to control behavior, and when people can kill and justify it then the government has failed. One sure way to demand an accountable government is to fight whether its physical or non-physical, and demand justice or we will kill the killers.
I am a TG person who is not going back into the closet and will take up arms to prove a point. The California government needs to be awakened and it WILL happen.
No Peace here!
I am a TG person who is not going back into the closet and will take up arms to prove a point. The California government needs to be awakened and it WILL happen.
No Peace here!
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