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Loading ...Attacker in alleged Prop 8 bashing held for trial
12.09.2008 12:40pm EST
(Torrance, California) A 23-year-old man will be held for trial on hate crime assault charges for beating a gay man during the Prop 8 aftermath.
At a preliminary hearing, the 22-year-old victim, whose name is being withheld for his own safety, testified that he was terrified he would die in the attack, which occurred just days after Prop 8 was passed.“I honestly, for a minute, didn’t know if I was gonna walk away from it,” the victim told Torrance Superior Court Judge Laura Ellison.
The victim identified his attacker as Joseph Storm.
Responding to questions from deputy district attorney Pat Carey, the victim said that he was wearing a “No on 8″ button and passed a sign in front of home with a “Yes of 8″ sign in front of it. The victim said that he gave the finger in front of the sign and was then attacked by Storm.
The victim said Storm hit him with the sign, then with his fists, and then began choking him.
During the attack, the victim testified, Storm yelled homophobic and racial slurs at him, although the victim is not African-American.
The victim also said Storm told him that if he ever saw him again “it’s gonna be worse.”
After the attack ended, the victim said he went to the home of a neighbor, fearing Storm would discover where he lived if he went to his own home. A friend took him to the hospital.
Storm’s attorney Donald Herzstein asked Judge Ellison to dismiss the hate crime allegation.
“Why?” Ellison demanded. “There’s overwhelming evidence of that.”
good thing the attacker was’nt a Muslim. The Koran demands death to Gays. So much blame for the Churches. You guys are so sad.
Tiger -
No kidding, there’s no way in HELL that their god is the same as our God. I mean I understand if you were referring to them as one and the same and I’m kinda ruining the metaphor… I’m a Christian so you’ll haveta forgive me (I’m by FAR not like their ilk, their kind makes me ashamed of my Christian-ness). But honestly, what Bible are they fucking reading, cause it’s not the same one I’ve read. Or maybe that’s the Jewish in me, eh I dunno. I have a headache right now, root canals suck
I suppose this won’t be featured on fox news or bill oreilly.
Poor religious fascists! How dare we infringe upon their right to beat and murder gay people as their evil god commands them to do. No amount of dialogue or education will change the minds of people like this.
Hopefully the maximun sentence allowed by law will be given by Justice Ellison to Joseph Storm. Glad that she dismissed the request to drop the Hate Crime part of it, since it was so clear.
Of course, the idiotic Mormons, Catholics and the rest of that ilk will cry that they were wronged, but their too ignorant to worry about anyway.
We can already hear the Right Wingers saying the poor accused in this case is the ‘real’ victim…. of the Gay Agenda, of course.