Man Gets Four Years
in Prison for Transgender Slaying
FRESNO, Calif. — Four years isn't much
time to spend behind bars for stabbing a man 20 times,
but that's what one man got for a killing in Fresno,
Calif., last year, after a blind date in a bar went
terribly wrong.
Estanislao Martinez didn't deny that he
repeatedly stabbed Joel Robles with a pair of scissors,
but his lawyer told the judge he had a good excuse — he
killed the victim in what he called a "gay panic."
Martinez and Robles had been out
drinking and went back to Martinez' apartment for some
privacy. But at the time, Martinez thought Robles was a
woman. He soon found out Robles was a cross-dressing
man.
"The decedent represented himself to be
female. She/he said he was female to him," said
Martinez' lawyer, Roberto Dulce. "There was some sexual
activity that occurred. All under the impression that
Mr. Martinez was engaging in sexual activity with a
woman."
Martinez went into a rage after he
realized Robles was a man, stabbed him repeatedly, then
jumped out his window onto the street. People found him
naked and covered in blood a short time later.
In court, Dulce, a public defender,
argued that the attack was a case of "gay panic," not
cold-blooded murder.
"It's a rage that ... doesn't justify
the conduct, but excuses it to a certain degree and
therefore it's not murder," Dulce said.
Dulce said the panic Martinez felt was a
sort of temporary insanity brought on by the shock of
realizing he had been duped by a transgender man. Dulce
said his defense is similar to "heat of passion"
arguments made in the past.
"When ... you come home [and] you find
your wife in bed with another man and you wind up
killing either one of them, it's voluntary
manslaughter," Dulce said.
Martinez pleaded guilty to voluntary
manslaughter and could have faced as many as 11 years in
prison. The crime and the punishment have outraged the
gay community.
"It wasn't manslaughter. So, what is
their excuse? A plea-bargain so they don't have to deal
with it? I think they've made it abundantly clear that
transgender people are not valued and it's OK to kill
them," said Charlotte Jenks, a gay and lesbian activist
in Fresno.
Because Martinez pleaded guilty, the
case is not eligible for appeal by either side. And with
good behavior, Martinez could be a free man in less than
three years.
Article from Fox News
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