’Gay Rage’ Claimed in Staten Island Homicide

by Kilian Melloy

EDGE Staff Reporter

Wednesday March 2, 2011

A 68-year-old man was choked to death by a friend during an evening of drinking. The reason given by the 55-year-old suspect: homosexual advances that sent him into a murderous rage.

Ronald Jones made the "gay rage" claim after the body of Robert Jenkins was discovered on the morning of Feb. 26. Jones was charged with second-degree murder and arraigned on Feb. 28, tabloid newspaper the New York Daily News reported on March 1.

Jones, who lives in Maryland, had been visiting Jenkins at the victim's Staten Island residence. The two had been drinking cognac, the article said. Then something went wrong--and Jenkins ended up dead, the life choked out of him.

Son Robert Jenkins, Jr., was at the arraignment, along with about 30 other relatives. The younger Jenkins called to the accused, "That was my father!" Jones did not meet his gaze.

"I don't know anything about that," the 48-year-old Jenkins, Jr. told the press when asked about Jones' claim that the elder Jenkins had made a sexual move on the accused killer. "I just want justice."

The details of the killing paint a grim picture of homicidal fury. The Gothamist reported on March 1 that Jones told authorities he had beaten the older man until he was unconscious, and then sat on him and beat him some more. An autopsy showed the Jenkins died from being choked.

The Gothamist reported that the two men were longtime friends, but noted that Jenkins' family had not met the accused prior to Jenkins' killing. Younger son Thomas Jenkins, 37, told the New York Daily News that his father, who had 11 grandchildren and was know as the "grandfather of the neighborhood," was "an icon."

Robert Jenkins also said that the killing was the result of "a dispute that went bad." Added the son, "He was a great man. This should not have happened."

The Anti-Violence Project issued a community alert regarding the killing. "AVP extends our condolences to Staten Island resident Robert Jenkins' family, friends, and community," the notification read. "While details of this case are still emerging it seems clear that a tragedy occurred between these two friends.

"AVP believes that sexual advances--whether or not they have occurred in this case--never justify murder. AVP is reaching out to the NYPD and partner organizations on Staten Island and will keep our community members informed of any developments."

So-called "gay panic" or "gay rage" has been used numerous times in the past as a defense in murder cases. Typically, the accused claims that the victim made an unwanted sexual advance and that the advance triggered such an intense episode of fear and rage that the perpetrator responded with lethal force, killing the victim without conscious intent or premeditation.

In other cases, accused killers claim that women they took home turned out to be pre-operative transwomen, and that the revelation was so stunning that they reacted as though under deadly assault themselves. A Sept. 22, 2008, article at Racialicious summarized a number of such instances involving transwomen of color, and explained, "What the defendant will do is claim for example, that when they discovered that the woman they're with is discovered to be transgender, it causes them to become so enraged that they committed the crime they ordinarily wouldn't have done and were not of sound mind and body when they did it.

"In a nutshell, they're trying to blame the victim and use the sensationalist nature of transgender issues against them in order to get away with murder," continued the article. "And too many times it works."

A Moment of "Panic"... and a Measured Aftermath

In cases involving "gay panic" claims, the moment of rage and fear that purportedly leads to the victim's death is sometimes followed by meticulous efforts to cover up. In the instance of gay newsman George Weber's death in October, 2010, reports indicated that John Katehis, the 16-year-old bladed weapons enthusiast who stabbed Weber about 50 times, had taken his time in cleaning up afterwards. Katehis, who identifies as heterosexual, had been hired by Weber via Craigslist for rough sexual play that was to include bondage and choking. Weber was partially bound when he was stabbed. Katehis told authorities that he was defending himself from Weber, who he said had menaced him with a knife.

Two years ago, a man accused of murder in a Texas killing employed a variation of the "gay panic" defense. Forensic testimony described how alleged killer Eric Smith, 36, purportedly stabbed Marin Byerly, 58, in the chest and eye with a screwdriver and beat him about the head with a cinder block at a motel room. Smith then attempted disposed of Byerly's naked body. The court also heard that Smith attempted to obliterate blood traces in the room with bleach and detergent.

The killing reportedly took place in late September of 2007. The following June, Smith's father went to the authorities. Byerly's bones were discovered in a remote location along with a pair of Wrangler's jeans alleged to have belonged to Smith.

Defense attorney Randy Walker presented the "gay panic" defense, claiming on behalf of Smith that his client had met with Byerly at the motel for drugs, only to be faced with a sexually aggressive, knife-wielding Byerly. The defense claimed that in order to defend himself, Smith was compelled to stab Byerly multiple times and beat him with the cinder block, fracturing Byerly's skull in the process.

The victim's wife, Dana Weeks Byerly, testified that her late husband was not gay or bisexual. A resident of the Tri-A-Night motel, where the killing took place, suggested otherwise, saying that Byerly had sought sex from him. The motel resident suggested that Byerly go to Smith for sex.

Homa Hal Smith, the father of the accused, took the stand subsequently to testify that his son had admitted killing Byerly to him, but had said that it was a matter of robbery. The elder Smith then testified that his son later confessed to being bisexual, and claimed that Byerly had attempted to assault him sexually.

The court also heard from the elder Smith that the accused had come up with a plan to frame an innocent person for the murder and collect a reward. The elder Smith did not want to go through with that plan, and went to the police.

A co-worker of Smith testified that Smith had related to him an account of having killed Byerly. The co-worker said he did not report the crime for fear of being Smith's next victim.

It is not unusual for "gay panic" cases to involve victims that were not simply killed with a blow or a wound. So-called instances "overkill" are not unusual in such cases: Victims' bodies are stabbed multiple times, savagely beaten, or, sometimes, mutilated.

A July 16, 2009, posting at Unfinished Lives, a site dedicated to GLBT victims of violence, reported that a 30-year-old Chicago man was acquitted after using the "gay panic" defense, saying that his neighbor had made a sexual advance toward him and threatened him with a knife. Joseph Biedermann said that he was simply defending himself when he killed Terence Michael Hauser on March 5, 2008. Biedermann stabbed Hauser 61 times.

In another case, a 19-year-old North Carolina man claimed in a call to emergency services that he shot and mutilated his 36-year-old housemate after overdosing on cough medicine because the older man was gay and had been pressuring him for gay sex. Though not a classic "gay panic" defense, Anderson's claim centered around alleged sexual overtures and involved acts of extreme violence that Anderson told authorities were the result of taking too much Mucinex, an over-the-counter cough remedy.

But the "gay panic" defense does not always convince courts. Jurors in Florida rejected a "gay panic" defense last summer, finding a 28-year-old man guilty of murder in the choking and stabbing death of a 60-year-old man.

Anibal Mayor's defense for the 2008 killing of Dean Blietz was that he thought Blietz was going to sexually assault him. That fear, the defense claimed, had built up over time, with Blietz making sexual advances toward Mayor, with whom he shared a residence. Finally, the defense said, Blietz triggered a lethal panic response, fueled by the trauma of a prison rape that Anibal said he had previously endured.

But the prosecution countered that the story did not make sense, asking jurors to use their "good common sense" in weighing the likelihood that the then-26-year-old Mayor would have continued to live with Blietz if he thought that he was in jeopardy, and noting that Mayor's story had changed over time.

Mayor had initially told police that he killed Blietz for money that Mayor wanted to use for the purchase of drugs. Blietz had taken Mayor in upon Mayor's release from prison after serving a five-year term for burglary; he hadn't even been out of prison for a month when Blietz was murdered in early July of 2008.

At his trial, Mayor's defense argued that Blietz had put his hand on Mayor's thigh. This, the defense claimed, sent Mayor into a panic. The defense also referenced a ring that was noted around Blietz's genitals at the autopsy, and suggested that the presence of the ring indicated that Blietz was looking for a sexual encounter.

In the end, jurors rejected the idea that "gay panic" justified the killing, and convicted Mayor of armed robbery and first-degree murder.

Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.