In Michigan, attorneys for 22-year-old Steven Scarborough succeeded in convincing jurors that Scarborough killed 62-year-old Victor Manious in a “gay panic” after Manious made unwanted advances on Scarborough.
The jury convicted Scarborough on a lesser voluntary manslaughter charge, with a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, with the possibility of parole, instead of first degree murder with life in prison, no parole.
According to Scarborough, Manious assaulted him and knocked him unconscious. When he regained consciousness, Scarborough said, he found Manious in his underwear on top of him, which violated Scarborough’s Southern Baptist beliefs, he said.
Despite the fact that the two met in a gay bar and left for an apartment belonging to Scarborough’s friend of seven weeks, Justin Robinson, the trauma of the alleged sexual assault so shook Scarborough that he then stashed Manious’s body in the trunk of his car and used the man’s credit cards for a few days of shopping and dining out with Robinson.
The easy verdict marks one more in a long string of cases proving that murder is not really murder when the victim is perceived as gay. In fact, two hours before reaching the verdict, jurors had requested information about the possibility of an acquittal.
Sentencing is scheduled for May, and it is expected that, because spiritually-minded Scarborough has several prior felony convictions, the judge’s sentence will be long.
No comments:
Post a Comment