You Might Like
Georgia State court rejects ‘gay panic’ claim in murder trial but can’t record death as hate crime
An Atlanta, Georgia court has convicted a man of murder despite his attempt to argue for a lesser charge by claiming that his victim made an unwanted same-sex pass at him.
19-year-old Marquavyian Gude shot and killed 17-year-old Devontavius McClain on or around April 20 in 2013 after the pair met online.
McClain had traveled from his home in Spalding County to meet Gude who he picked up in his car.
Gude would later claim that he had been deceived and that he had thought he was meeting a woman but that doesn’t explain why he got into McClain’s car when he saw that he was male – or why he drove around with his victim for several hours.
‘Gude confessed to murdering McClain but claimed it was in self-defense because the victim made a pass at him,’ district attorney Paul Howard told AJC.com on Wednesday.
Atlanta detectives identified Gude as a suspect after McClain’s telephone records showed the teens had been communicating with each other in the lead up to McClain’s death.
Gude was also spotted driving McClain’s car around and trying to use McClain’s credit card to make purchases.
It is likely that McClain’s body was in the trunk of the car at that time as his badly decomposed body was discovered in the car two months later.
Gude was already in jail over unrelated charges when he was charged over McClain’s death.
The Fulton County Superior Court jury convicted Gude of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, theft by taking and weapons offenses on Tuesday and Judge Craig Schwall sentenced him to life in prison plus five years.
However while rejecting the attempted ‘gay panic’ defense in the trial, McClain’s death will not be recorded as a hate crime as the state of Georgia currently has no laws recognizing crimes of prejudice against LGBTI people.
The post Georgia State court rejects ‘gay panic’ claim in murder trial but can’t record death as hate crime appeared first on Gay Star News.
Andrew Potts
You Might Like
