https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LplmLqb6HQ
Joseph Bearden, the first of two men accused of the brutal killing of a Florida gay man, Ryan Skipper, has been convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to life in prison. He was also sentenced to 40 years for associated crimes, to be served concurrently. William David Brown Jr, also charged with the crime, is charged with murder in the first degree and will go on trial later this year. Brown is accused of actually wielding the knife that stabbed Skipper 19 times and then slit his neck.
While Florida has no provision for hate crime enhancements on murder (the penalty for which is already the max), the state made it clear that the fact that Bearden and Brown knew that Skipper was gay contributed heavily to their actions – it was a hate crime. Even Circuit Judge J. Michael Hunter had this to say in response to Bearden’s plea for leniency:
You were way more involved in this,” Hunter said. “He (Skipper) was killed because of the robbery, he was an easy target and he was gay.
Sadly, this case is marred by early leaks to the media by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office which were later determined to be false or uncorroborated. The defendants, in an apparent attempt to mitigate their own guilt, claimed that Skipper was looking for sex, taking illegal drugs with them and discussed some sort of check fraud scam for which no evidence was found. The SO later admitted this:
Sheriff’s Chief W. J. Martin acknowledges that what was said was based on comments from the two suspects. “Unfortunately, Ryan Skipper is not here to tell his side,” said Martin, who heads the agency’s criminal investigations bureau. “In these kind of cases you have two suspects trying to minimize their involvement to make themselves look better.”
There has been no apology to Skipper’s family and friends who all tell a consistent story of a wonderful young man just finding his way in the world when he was brutally murdered. Along with becoming financially responsible, and learning a trade at a local vocational school, Skipper had made peace with his faith.
Skipper was raised in the church and believed in God; he made peace with his faith and homosexuality in his own way,” she said. “I know his philosophy was that, ‘God’s not going to discriminate against me because of my sexuality.'”
See the Wikipedia entry for Ryan Skipper for what appears to be reasonably accurate information.
Is it a rule somewhere that if you are gay and are hurt by someone, you must have caused it?
David,
If there is, it must be right next to the rule that blames any woman who gets raped for somehow asking for it.
Well, hate crime or no hate crime, seems to me given the nature and brutality of the killings, 2nd degree murder is the MINIMUM that should be given. I don;t know if it was pre-meditated or not, but they should BOTH be given life without the possibility of parole, – PERIOD- they took a life, now it’s time to pay the piper.
As for asking for it, man or woman, to me if they are REALLY asking for it, it’s a request to have sex by that person to have sex with another, the word NO is pretty easy to say in nearly every language- the word NO is acceptable, violence is NOT. Whether it’s wise to dress or act outre is not the issue, as long as no one gets hurt, EVERYONE AND ANYONE, has the right to dress and act as outre as they wish. Somehow, you’d think churches an society at large would realize that gayness is a far cry from murder (oops, I forgot Mr. Buttars and Scott Renfroes little hate statements!). Seems to me most of these so called “Christians” on the right would be able to see the differnece between being gay and being a murderer- but again, I forgot, we’re talking about Florida- how sad that these men will have their lives ruined (and yet how just) because they have learned to hate.
Will the church learn? Not in our lifetime! It’s evident, the hate rhetoric is increasing. So serve those haters in your own life notice- we’re not gonna take this shit anymore!
And FIGHT BACK!
I think he got just what he deserves. The death penalty would have just been an easy way out.
It just makes you wonder how many cases are truly out there of people being murdered just becuase they are gay and are not filed as hate crimes.
Sad. The Bible has nothing to do with politics, people need to stop using it to oppress minorities. WWJD??
May he rest in peace.
Truthfully, only a very small percentage of murders result in someone getting the death penalty in those states that still use it.
I used to work in Florida prisons, spending 8 hours a day inside was bad enough. Life there is, in my opinion, a worse fate than death.
“I think he got just what he deserves. The death penalty would have just been an easy way out.”
That’s a 2 edge sword as it costs taxpayers somewhere between 30 to 50K per year to house inmates. (Phil, maybe you have more exact knowledge on that expense). That can really add up with a life sentence and $interest$ those dollars could be making. 20 years x 50K is a million dollars. With interest loss it could be in the millions lost to tax payers for just one inmate.
I am not a pro on the arguements around the death penalty, but I do believe serial and singular premeditated murderers and pedophiles just have bad brains and should be executed. We just don’t have the psychological technology to cure them yet in my opinion.
Being a survivor of sexual abuse, I can attest to the fact it can and does totally ruin lives and can make life a living hell for the abused.
If it’s a hate crime, I would vote to see the death penalty become automatic. With the economy the way it is, me paying dollars for room and board for murderers and pedophiles is the last item on my list.
Devlin-
Don´t you think death is an easy way out, though??
With the Death Penalty I think that what we do is kill people who killed people to show that killing people is wrong. It sends the wrong message. If people are mentally distrubed, they probably don´t care if they are sentenced to death.
We need to show other members of society that there isn´t an easy way out if one acts out in such a way.
This is why the passage of the Matthew Shepard Act is imperative to the well-being of the LGBT community.
Derrick,
I don’t have any stats on whether a jail sentence or death is a better or worse criminal deterant in general. I think any loss of freedom would be pretty terrifying for most.
I just want these types permanently gone, though that may sound harsh. The torture of a life sentence does not really get it for me. They are too much a burden at every level to drag it out. I look at it more from a money angle and would be interested to know the dollars spent on housing Charles Manson. I would imagine it is staggering and may open some eyes.
I’d rather feed hungry kids in Cambodia than baby sit a murderer the rest of his life, even if he tap danced to his funeral. Why Derrick, do you think dragging it out instead of a death penalty is better? Do you think the suffering of a life sentence is due and necessary?
I just think it is wrong to kill someone to show that killing someone is wrong.
That´s all.
Not to go off topic, but has Throckmorton disavowed this video?:
https://vimeo.com/2559537
just curious (hope this link works)
Yeah, that’s pretty far off topic. I should ask you to apologize just for making me sit through creepy David Kyle Foster intros — ugh. I would prefer that it had been posted in the review thread just before this one, but if Throckmorton wants to answer, he can do it here since I’m sure he has already gotten a Google alert with this link.
I know that the statement about memories and temporal lobe lobotomy at 26:00 is virtually identical to a rather weak line that Alan Chambers uses often to explain why he still has same-sex attractions.
Sorry, Dave. I’m never sure what Ex-gay Watch is or isn’t aware of with the ex-gay movement, so sometimes I post these links just in the off case no one’s heard of a group. My apologies.
John
P.S. Thanks for doing such a great job with this site!
I see your point Derrick however, I don’t think we kill people with the death penalty to show that killing is wrong. The basic intent of law is not designed to kill, but to protect.
The death penalty is partially in place because a criminal committed an act so heinous, that if they were to escape prison, others would surely be at their mercy. Hence I see it as a protective measure rather than a display lesson of what’s right or wrong.
There is a fine line between the emotional term, punishment, and the survival term, protection. Though they may not seem compatable at times, it seems they are intrinsically intertwined.
Most financial analyses have shown capital punishment to be much more expensive due mostly to innumerable appeals. Also the Illinois experience with so many innocent folks on death row maks it unlikely for death penalty appeal limits to make it very far these days.
Thanks for that info John. I knew executions were expensive but not that they trumped a life sentence dollar amount on average.
I would conclude sighting numerous appeals that you spoke of, that the death penalty is no easy way out.
Forward we forge.
Executions are VERY expensive and are not a deterrent. The highest rates of murder are in the South, which also has the highest rate of execution.
Another example: Illinois and Wisconsin. Illinois, until recently had the death penalty, while Wisconsin hasn’t since it became a state. Which state had the higher murder rate? Illinois – although it was suspended in the late 1990’s. It’s been that way since 1848, when Wisconsin became a state.
It’s a poor argument and it’s a practice that should be eliminated.