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Duncan Osborne at Gay City News and Ikimulisa Livingston at the New York Post cover the opening statements in a trial to determine whether John L. McGhee killed my friend Edgar Garzon in the summer of 2001.
"I will prove to you that this defendant did this because Mr. Garzon was a gay man and he made the mistake of hitting on this defendant," said prosecutor Karen Ross representing the Queens District Attorney's office.
McGhee was arrested in June of 2006 upon returning from the UK based on a statement given by a witness who came forward a year after the attack and statements made later by people close to McGhee.
According to the Post, Defense lawyer Charles Abercrombie said McGhee is innocent and pointed out that there "is no DNA evidence, no fingerprints and no weapons connecting McGhee to the crime."
Despite attempts from Abercrombie to have the judge limit the testimony of Leonor Garzon, Edgar's mother, to simply identifying her son in a photo, Ms. Garzon gave moving testimony as she weeped on the stand. Quoting from Gay City News:
Before Leonor testified, and with the jury out of the courtroom, Abercrombie asked that she be limited to identifying Edgar from his hospital photos and she not be allowed to discuss his life or achievements.
"The character of the victim is not an issue in this case," he told Robert J. Hanophy, the judge in the case. Ross and Hanophy agreed.
Questioned by Ross, Leonor went on at length about Edgar's work as a film editor, restaurant owner, and set designer. He was "very creative," she said. She wept when asked about first seeing Edgar in the hospital.
"His face had no shape at all," Leonor said through a translator. "I kept talking to him and I was afraid to kiss him."
When Ross asked, "Did he respond to you at all?" Leonor burst into tears and said only "No, no."
While Abercrombie could have objected, given the earlier agreement with the prosecutor and the judge, interrupting a weeping mother's testimony could anger the jury. It was only when Ross paused to introduce two hospital photos of Edgar that Abercrombie got a discussion out of the jury's hearing and Leonor was dismissed from the stand.
Hanophy later told the jury that both sides had agreed that Leonor had identified Edgar.
With the jury out of the courtroom, Abercrombie asked for a mistrial or that the jury be told to ignore Leonor's testimony. Hanophy denied both motions.
Trial resumes on Monday.
Update:
Previously on Blabbeando:
- February 8, 2007: Michael J. Sandy and Edgar Garzon pre-trial hearings underway
- October 18, 2006: A Pansy for Edgar Garzon
- September 5, 2006: 5th Annual Memorial Mass and Vigil in honor of Eddie Garzon
- July 7, 2006: Gay City News on Eddie Garzon
- July 1, 2006: Armando Garzon talks to El Diario La Prensa
- June 30, 2006: New York Times: Stepping off plane, man is arrested in '01 murder
- June 29, 2006: Eddie Garzon: After five years, an arrest
- Part 1: The Attack
- Part 2: COLEGA and Eddie Garzon
- Part 3: So what is, exactly, is a 'hate crime'? (and a prayer)
- Part 4: Eddie Garzon passes on
- Part 5: The Vigil
- Part 6: A Newsday Editorial
- Part 7: A parade of angels
- Part 8: Epilogue
In the news on a Saturday night:
Mexican gay man killed: Canadian gay weekly X-tra is reporting that a Mexican gay man who was denied refugee status in Canada four years ago - and had no option but to go back to the country he said he feared - was found shot to death in his Mexican apartment on April 7th of this year.
According to the article, Mexican authorities believe the murder of 35 year old Enrique Villegas (pictured) was drug-related but friends of Villegas in Vancouver say that this is unlikely because he was clean as a whistle and didn't even smoke cigarettes while he lived in Canada. They also believe that he might have been killed by a homeless person Villegas had taken under his wing who might have taken advantage of Villegas because he was gay.
The article does a great job in analyzing the complexities of refugee / asylum cases from countries that Canada might consider to be gay-friendly (particularly with recent gay rights advances in Latin America). Ultimately, though, as someone who has helped hundreds of people navigate the asylum process in the United States, I'm not so sure that the murder in itself - whether it was drug related or at the hands of a man Villegas picked-up from the streets - means that Canada erred in denying refugee status as his friends seem to indicate.
The murder - under either scenario - does not seem to rise to the level of social, institutional, governmental or political persecution which is the basis of such claims in the United States as well as Canada.
Trans panic: In a police blotter blurb that has gone mostly unnoticed in this city, 24 year old Quasim Harris went "bezerk" in early Tuesday morning when he found out that his date was a transgender woman while at her Crown Heights apartment. He first beat her in the face with an iron (classy!) and then came back and stole a stereo, a TV set and and video game console (classier!). No other details in the case.
Also, in not so caliente news: At least local press has taken notice of Khadijah Farmer and the uncomfortable situation that she experienced at the West Village Caliente Cab Co. restaurant on pride day. When this happens in the gayest part of town it's time to wonder just how welcome we are in this city.
Mike Dupree looks for a job: In the meantime, the Mike Dupree story refuses to die. A sampling from this week's coverage:
And finally, post-Bronx Pride woes: Last year we told you that Lisa Winters was not a happy woman after having to jump through hoops to get a permit for a pride event in the Bronx after years of not having one. Sorry to tell you but Lisa Winters is still not a happy woman after this year's event.
It's a topic on which we might expand in the future. For now we'll leave you with the following limited reports which do not address the fact that there is actually a vibrant LGBT community in the Bronx nor the fact that Bronx Borough President and rumored future mayoral candidate Adolfo Carrión speaks volumes by being silent and not stepping in to resolve the situation.... for the second year in a row.
That story on new developments in the Rashawn Brazell murder that ran in Tuesday's New York Post?
The Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund has posted an editorial on their website that challenges most of the article including the fact that there's anything "new" to report and questions the timing of the article (as well as the NYPD's anonymous "leak"). They also say that the NYPD has asked Rashawn's mother, Desire Brazell-Jones, to cancel a march planned for April 15 (what would have been Rashawn's 21st birthday) that will end in front of the 79th Precinct Station to draw attention to Rashawn's murder and the lack of actions and leads from the NYPD. Today, Gay City News reports that the NYPD is actually denying that the New York Post got their information from the police department. GCN also says that, while commending the 79th Precinct for handling the logistics of the upcoming march, Ms. Brazell-Jones is upset that she found out about the Post's story when she read it on Tuesday morning and says that the man the Post identified as Rashawn's boyfriend was actually NOT his boyfriend and was known to the family. She also says that there is a feeling of disproportionate justice related to the media and police attention given to the recent murder of Imette St. Guillen: "I am very unhappy when this young lady's case came about to see what amazing energy the police showed on that compared to this case."
MARCH & RALLY INFO: April 15, 2006 - Participants will gather between noon and 1 p.m. at Nostrand Avenue and Fulton Street near the A train station. At 1 p.m., marchers will proceed the roughly 15 blocks to the 79th Precinct for a rally. Check rashawnbrazell.com for updates.
Duncan Osborne at Gay City News and Ikimulisa Livingston at the New York Post cover the opening statements in a trial to determine whether John L. McGhee killed my friend Edgar Garzon in the summer of 2001.
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