California bans gay/trans 'panic' defenses

[haurni]

"California Becomes First State to Ban Gay, Trans 'Panic' Defenses"

"In a groundbreaking move, the state takes a stand against defendants being able to use a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity as justification for murder."

 

[Kalamain]

I'm confused as to how this got onto the books in the first place!?

How can someones sexuality be justification for ANYTHING??

 

[klippert]

I'm confused as to how this got onto the books in the first place!?

How can someones sexuality be justification for ANYTHING??

It's Kalafornia to begin with. Second...I didn't know, besides in the world of Islam, their was justification for murder....

P.S.
WTF is Gender Identity

 

[Kalamain]

P.S. WTF is Gender Identity

Its what you identify as.
For the sake of the point...I could be a male that feels like a female and I am intending on going through the process of sexual transformation.

I feel like a female but don't LOOK like a female but I want people to treat me like the female I intend to be.

So I IDENTIFY as a female.

Did that help at all?

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm confused as to how this got onto the books in the first place!?

It's not that there was an explicit "gay/trans panic" clause in the law. But convicting somebody of murder generally requires premeditation; you can get it reduced to manslaughter, with a lesser sentence, by showing that you acted in the heat of the moment and weren't thinking clearly. So for instance, if I'm drunk, you insult me, and I pull out a gun and shoot you, I might be able to get off with manslaughter. But if I sober up, then go track you down and shoot you, it's murder - I made a premeditated decision to kill you.

So a typical "gay panic" case looks something like this: Jim finds out that Bob's gay, Jim kills Bob, then Jim claims Bob came on to him and Jim was so freaked out by the situation that he panicked and killed Bob. If the jury buys that, Jim can get it down to manslaughter. The trans version probably goes like "we started having sex and then I realised Barbara had a dick and I freaked out". Often enough the whole story is bullshit and Jim set out to kill somebody who's no longer around to contradict his version of events.

In theory, a woman could equally well shoot a guy who propositioned her and claim she panicked. But in practice, juries are much more likely to buy it when the victim is (claimed to be) gay/trans. I haven't seen the detail of the California law, but I think the point is to explicitly rule that "a guy/trans woman came on to me and I panicked" can't be used to reduce murder to manslaughter.