100 - Provocation & the Gay Panic defence

Mens Rea: A true crime podcast

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Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2021

⏱️ 57 minutes

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Summary

There has been a lot of progress in relation to equal rights and protections for members of the LGBTQ+ in Ireland. However, despite decriminalisation in 1993, and the passage of Marriage Equality in 2015, there is still much to do. In addition to requiring effective hate speech legislation, the defence of provocation does allow a person accused of murder to claim that a romantic or sexual advance by an LGBTQ+ person resulted in a loss of control leading to the killing of that person. In this episode, we explore cases where this partial defence was employed at trial and appeal: the killing of John Roche in 1982, the murder of Gerard Hackett in 2002, and the kidnap and murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998. Reasearch & Writing by Eileen MacFarlene of the Crimelapse Podcast ********** With thanks to our sponsors for this episode: Try the casual mobile puzzle game Best Fiends today! Find it on the Apple App store and Google Play! Check out the global leader in mens grooming and Get 20% Off + Free Shipping at Manscaped.com with the code MENS Sign up for professional online counselling at betterhelp.com/mens and get 10% off your first month! ********* Find us on Facebook or Twitter! With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! Donate today to get access to bonus and ad-free episodes! Check out the Mens Rea Merch Store! ********* Theme Music: Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Additional Music: Allemande (Sting) by Wahneta Meixsell. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ ********* Sources: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/man-accused-of-axe-murder-1.1136193 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/in-short-1.922163 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/in-short-1.1001883 https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30140040.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30139935.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30138989.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30138430.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30139868.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30139717.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30139503.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30139661.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30139390.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30073577.html https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30361179.html ‘Man Charged with murder in Co Cork’ Irish Times, October 22 2002 ‘Life sentence handed down for axe killing’ Irish Times, March 27th 2004 ‘Man accused of axe murder’ March 20th 2004 ‘Axe-killer gets life sentence for murder in derelict house’, Siobhan Gaffney, Irish Independent, March 27 2004 https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/axe-killer-gets-life-sentence-for-murder-in-derelict-house-26014155.html https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dead-man-hit-on-head-with-axe-seven-times-26013187.html https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/man-charged-with-derelict-house-murder-26031829.html https://www.rte.ie/news/2002/1021/31113-midleton/ https://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0319/47064-allingham/ https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/criminaljusticenotes/2020/07/30/the-provocation-defence-in-ireland/ https://criminaljusticeinireland.wordpress.com/2019/11/20/provocation-in-ireland-is-there-still-a-defence-for-the-defence/ https://www.newstalk.com/news/you-feel-helpless-40-of-homeless-people-have-been-sexually-assaulted-1182101 https://ichh.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Homelessness-Survey-13.04.2021.pdf https://www.cork-guide.ie/midleton/ https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40183851.html DPP V Allingham, May 2008 DPP V Allingham, July 2008 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1924/act/10/section/29/enacted/en/html https://www.matthewshepard.org/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45968606 https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-victim-of-an-anti-gay-assault-dies Senate Judiciary Committee. Hearings on The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (June 25, 2009). https://eu.coloradoan.com/story/news/2018/10/30/matthew-shepard-autopsy-no-hard-drugs-hand-shaped-bruises-found-wyoming-coroner/1820019002/ https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/open-spaces/2018-10-26/the-coroners-story-autopsy-reveals-details-about-matthew-shepards-hate-crime https://trib.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/coroner-says-matthew-shepard-had-hand-shaped-bruising-on-groin-no-meth-in-system/article_78b3006a-e278-5616-a981-e00f4086f7d7.html https://famous-trials.com/mattshepard/2517-dennis-shepard-s-statement-to-henderson-in-court https://famous-trials.com/images/ftrials/mattshepard/Wyoming_v_Henderson_Transcrip47.pdf https://famous-trials.com/mattshepard/2506-charges-against-russell-henderson-october-13-1998 https://lgbtbar.org/programs/advocacy/gay-trans-panic-defense/ https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/declan-flynn-queer-bashing-murder-still-very-raw-36-years-on-1.3548395 https://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/declan-flynn-murder-changed-ireland https://www.thejournal.ie/history-lgbt-rights-ireland-4078424-Jun2018/ https://www.thejournal.ie/anniversary-decriminalisation-homosexuality-ireland-963902-Jun2013/ https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/officials-redouble-efforts-to-expunge-gay-convictions-39830386.html https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/11/28/courts-in-39-american-states-still-admit-the-gay-panic-defence https://www.garda.ie/en/about-us/publications/research-publications/a-review-of-research-on-victimisation-of-the-gay-and-lesbian-community-in-ireland.pdf https://www.iccl.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Hate-Crime-Report-LR-WEB.pdf (ICCL report, pages; 24-30 82, 83, 84, 85, 86. 182-200) https://inar.ie/hate-crime-key-developments/ https://www.nxf.ie/events/burning-issues-2/ https://www.lawreform.ie/_fileupload/Reports/rDefencesinCriminalLaw.pdf https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/resources/Norris_v_Ireland.pdf https://nxf.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Burning-Issue-2-Report-by-NXF.pdf https://hatecrime.osce.org/ireland http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/General_Scheme_Criminal_Justice_(Hate_Crime)_Bill_2021.pdf/Files/General_Scheme_Criminal_Justice_(Hate_Crime)_Bill_2021.pdf https://www.lawreform.ie/_fileupload/consultation%20papers/cpProvocation.pdf https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1987.tb02569.x - 147,148 https://lgbtqbar.org/programs/advocacy/gay-trans-panic-defense/ Irish Queer Archive https://lr.law.qut.edu.au/article/download/489/475/489-1-958-2-10-20151118.pdf http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MelbULawRw/2002/6.html https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/declan-flynn-queer-bashing-murder-still-very-raw-36-years-on-1.3548395 https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/officials-redouble-efforts-to-expunge-gay-convictions-39830386.html

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the mens rea podcast, and this is the story of Gay Panic and the murder of Jared Hackish.
0:30.0	Listed under unnatural offenses in the offenses against the Person Act 1861, Buggeri was labeled as an
0:48.1	abominable crime committed either with mankind or an animal that was punishable by penal servitude.
0:55.3	While Ireland had progressed to a more liberal society by the 1970s, homosexuality was still a crime.
1:03.1	David Norris, a joysy and scholar from Trinity College, began fighting to decriminalize homosexuality in the late 1970s.
1:11.5	He stated that these laws contravened the Irish constitutions stance on privacy.
1:17.3	The case was dismissed by the high court. In the decades previous, there were over a dozen
1:23.9	men per year found guilty in relation to homosexual convictions with over 400 men convicted between 1962 and 1972.
1:33.5	Two years after Norris's failure in the high court, two murders would highlight the unjust bias against gay men and women in Ireland.
1:42.3	On September 8, 1982, 29-year-old John Roach was murdered by Michael O'Connor in the Munster Hotel Cork City.
1:51.1	Mr. Roach worked in the hotel as a night porter and was an active member in the Penny Youth Theatre.
1:57.5	His uncle owned the hotel and had warned him about not inviting his theatrical friends over to the hotel.
2:05.7	In the middle of the night, after 4 a.m., O'Connor decided to have a cup of tea with Mr. Roach in his bedroom.
2:12.7	He left the room for a short time before returning with a 15-centimeter knife he had bought for 11 pounds and 25 pounds.
2:21.7	When O'Connor saw Mr. Roach in the bed in a state of undress, he stabbed him in the chest, telling him,
2:27.9	quote, your gay days are over, end quote. Mr. Roach was later found tied to a chair.
2:35.3	Following an anonymous call to the Garda station, O'Connor was arrested and questioned.
2:40.6	He eventually admitted he, quote, had to kill him. He would have ruined my life. He wanted me to become gay.
2:47.6	I said no way and I killed him, end quote.
2:51.3	O'Connor admitted to buying the knife with the intention of killing Mr. Roach if he tried to, quote, unquote, make him gay.
3:00.0	At his trial, Michael O'Connor pleaded not guilty to murder.
3:04.5	On the stand, O'Connor said, quote, he started to have a sex orgy with me.
	...

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