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WINDY CITY TIMES
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Planned Execution of Gay Man 'Tainted,' Activists Say
2003-09-24
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This article shared 2544 times since Wed Sep 24, 2003
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Chicago-based Queer to the Left condemns Eddie Hartman's execution set for Friday, Oct. 3, 2003 in North Carolina. Queer to the Left has launched a clemency campaign urging individuals to request that Gov. Michael Easley commute his sentence to life in prison.
During the penalty phase, the hearing to determine whether Hartman should live or die, Prosecutor David Beard presented irrelevant evidence that Hartman was gay. Beard deliberately and insidiously injected Hartman's sexuality at the hearing to dehumanize him before the jury, provoke the jurors' prejudices and prompt a death sentence.
In Hartman's case, the defense presented the testimony of Hartman's mother and aunt that Hartman had been repeatedly sexually abused as a child as mitigating evidence. In a cynical attempt to blunt the impact of this evidence, Beard asked Hartman's mother, 'Is your son not a homosexual?' Beard later asked Hartman's aunt, 'Well, you knew that Mr. Hartman is a homosexual. You've heard that.' Even after the judge ruled that Beard's statement was improper, he continued, asking next, 'Did you know what sexual persuasion the defendant was?' Beard's tactics were successful. The jury did not find the sexual abuse Hartman suffered was mitigating and voted to kill him.
Many death row cases are built on a foundation of prejudice. Recently, the LGBT community has begun to understand that homophobia can have the same deadly effects as racism and the lack of money in determining who lives and who dies on death row in the U.S. 'Hartman's case is another example of a prosecutor who had no shame in relying on prejudice—here anti gay prejudice—to obtain a death sentence,' said Joey Mogul, a criminal defense attorney in Chicago and member of Queer to the Left.
For Further Information: Heather Wells, Eddie Hartman's attorney, 910-254-4748; Mark Kleinschmidt, Center for Death Penalty Litigation in North Carolina, 919-956-9545.
Call/write/e-mail Gov. Michael Easley: Gov. Michael F. Easley, Office of the Gov., 20301 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-0301, Fax: (919) 715-3175 or (919) 733-2120, Tel: (800) 662-7952/(919) 733-4240, governor.office@ncmail.net .
See www.ncnlg.org . |
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This article shared 2544 times since Wed Sep 24, 2003
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