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Currently, Arizona and Florida have pending legislation. It is not a freestanding defense to criminal liability. Rather, the defense is a legal tactic that bolsters other defenses, such as insanity, provocation, or self-defense. The goal of this strategy is to employ homophobia and transphobia to persuade a jury into fully or partially acquitting the defendant.

Intwo men brutally beat the year-old college student and left him to die on the side of a road in Laramie, Wyoming. While they were thankfully unsuccessful, the employment of the defense further harmed the memory of Matthew Shepard by blaming him for his brutal murder.

Today, the defense is still employed in courtrooms across the country. Our language must reflect and embrace that diversity. It also is used in cases of assault and battery to evade a guilty verdict or reduce charges. While other groups face violence as well, this specific tactic directly employs homophobia and transphobia.

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Further, the number of transgender people murdered in the United States nearly doubled between and Often, we rely on local reporting to track cases involving the defense, making it especially hard to find every instance in which it is employed, let alone successful. It is also important to recognize that this insidious defense does not need to be successful to be dangerous.

This resource is meant to provide representative case examples of this defense tactic, not an exhaustive list of all cases in which it has been employed. This tactic is significantly challenging to track, partially because many people do not realize it is a distinguishable defense tactic, not something unique to the cases in which it is employed.

While a particular jurisdiction may not be featured in this case bank, that does not mean the tactic has not been employed in that jurisdiction. Finally, please note that all demographic specific information is collected based on local reporting and is subject to change. Carsten Andresen for his significant research on this topic, which greatly informed the resource below.

This website uses Google Analytics, WebLeads, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn, and AdRoll to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages. Skip to main content. Download Our Educational Guide Here. View Case Examples Here. How is the defense used in court? Sadly, the legal field has yet to catch up.

Talk show host Jenny Jones was hosting a show that discussed the topic of secret admirers. Jonathan Schmitz was invited to participate and was surprised and embarrassed to see his male friend, Scott Amedure, confess to having a crush on him. The jury reduced the charge from premeditated murder to second-degree murder.

He was struck over the head over a dozen times by Roderiqus Reshad Reed and died from his injuries.