Accused killer was 'disgusted' that transgender teen was male

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 7/26/5 | Kelly St. John

[SmithL]

Hayward -- One of three men accused of killing a 17-year-old Newark transgender nearly three years ago testified today that he participated in the attack after learning that Gwen Araujo was not the woman he thought he'd had sex with.

Testifying for the first time at his retrial on murder charges, Jose Merel, 25, said he was disgusted when friends at a party revealed that Araujo, who called herself Lida and with whom Merel had previously had anal sex, was biologically male.

"It's hard to explain," Merel said in a Hayward courtroom of the way he felt on Oct. 3, 2003. "Your whole life you think you're a heterosexual. Then you get pleasure from a homosexual. It disgusted me."

Merel did not testify at the first trial, which ended in June 2004 with the jury deadlocked on charges against him and two other men, Michael Magidson and Jason Cazares, both 25. The case, and the mistrial, outraged the transgender community.

The retrial began last month.

[tiamat]

Yeah, well, you'll note that there were SEVERAL " he-men" who had t spend a couple of days talking themselves up to go after one "she-male".

REALLY brave, big souls, this lot!

[SunnySide]

You are ate up with strange. Go away psychophant vulture

[sandbar]

>>>You are ate up with strange. Go away psychophant vulture

Yes, cannot justify your queer sense of right/wrong, so you turn to names.

Murder is not right in either of these situations, but you are quite twisted in your logic of what is normal and what is not.

[SunnySide]

"you are quite twisted in your logic of what is normal and what is not." ................. Yeah, keep lecturing to your mirror. It's working wonders for you. ;)

[newzjunkey]

Get a grip on reality for a moment please. The murderer believed "she" was a female. The article states the murdered person was biologically male. Who knows if the teenager was pre- or post-op transgender. It makes a big difference. The perp was 25 and did this in what seems to be one of those "honor killings" mentioned earlier in this topic.

There are more biological sexual outcomes than just male and female. Once you get into cases of indeterminate genitals and unusual chromosomal pairings (it's not just XY and XX that are possible) your neat little black-and-white world of boys-and-girls is null and void.

This "deception" is *not* anywhere sufficient to justify a murder of a minor. Rather than grow out of his narrow understanding of human experience and biological reactions his pea brain went "tilt" and he thought if he killed, the murder would "undo" his having gotten the sexual pleasure via anal intercourse than he had sought and the victim provided.

[Judge Roy]

The person that had sex with the deceased would not have had sex with this party if he had known. So the decesed deceived and thus raped the party he had sex with. For rape murder is justifiable.

[JNL]

Oh come on no one force these fellas to have anal sex with the guy. This is far from rape.

[tiamat]

Judge Roy wrote:
The person that had sex with the deceased would not have had sex with this party if he had known. So the deceased deceived and thus raped the party he had sex with. For rape murder is justifiable.

---

Taliban much?

Like the "deceased" FORCED the murderer to have sex?

What? Held a gun to his head and said , "Do me or I blow you brains out?"

The murderer should not have been screwing around with people he didn't know.

The fact that the murderer came back a few days later with buddies, killed the victim and then DUMPED the victim tells me what a spinelesss little POS this guy really is.

[ValerieUSA]

YOU get a grip. I did not excuse the murder, nor say the murderer's sexual behavior was acceptable either.

All that is explained about the murder victim's sex is that he was male, and it was proven. He preferred to be a girl.

I prefer to be tan, but I am freckled. Saying I am tan doesn't make my skin nice and bronzed. That's reality.

There is not mention of physical ambiguity of the victim's sex, just a propensity to play sexual games with strangers while pretending to be a girl. That is deception, and it is dangerous to every fool who gets involved.

[streetpreacher]

And shoes and ships and ceiling wax...

[ValerieUSA]

Yeah, that was objective!

[streetpreacher]

Leave it to a poster named "SunnySide" to defend egg throwing... would it make a difference if they were scrambled?

[The KG9 Kid]

Here's an insider's view of the jury pool in the 'Transgendered Teen Murder' case, written by one of the jurors:

East Bay Express -- Left Hanging. Why the first Gwen Araujo jury couldn't convict the defendants. And why it might happen again.

[ValerieUSA]

Gwen, who was going by the name "Lida" at the time, was introduced to a circle of friends whom she met during a chance encounter while walking down a local street. The group of young adults enjoyed passing the evening hours with party activities that included playing dominos and consuming drugs and alcohol at the home of Gwen's to-be assailants. Gwen was reported to have engaged in sexual activities with several of the men from the group. She was later invited back to the house where a party was planned a few weeks after she and the men had first met.

That's called streetwalking and solicitation for sex. It's not an innocent angelic activity for any teenager, male, female or confused. Many things were seriously wrong with his family life, and his mother was criminal in primping and pimping that boy named Gwen.

[Michael.SF.]

Yeah, that was objective!

And your point is what?

Are you saying that it was understandable that these several guys were justified in crushing his skull with a frying pan, driving his head through a wall, dragging his body to a garage, stringing him up, beating him to death, wrapping him in sheets, then putting him into a trunk, driving him 150 miles to bury him in a shallow grave?

So for all of that, they should get a lesser crime because he was a fag?

Slamming him in the head in anger I understand that. If that single blow to the head kills him. Sure, I am OK with manslaughter. But all that occurred after that, these guys deserve to fry.

[SunnySide]

"... would it make a difference if they were scrambled?" ...................................... No, your brains are yours to mess with, and mess with alone. Suck it up, you're going to have to take responsibility for YOUR OWN actions in life.

[The KG9 Kid]

All ValerieUSA was saying is that if you're 'transgendered' but still biologically male, and choose to have sex with straight men and not tell them, there's going to be issues.

Yes, these killers should be held accountable. Let's see the prosecution prove their case first. They chose 1st Degree Murder as the charge, and the jury couldn't agree.

Why don't you just let it go at that, Michael?

[Paul C. Jesup]

The KG9 Kid: They chose 1st Degree Murder as the charge, and the jury couldn't agree.

If, to paraphase Michael.SF; several guys crushed his skull with a frying pan, drove his head through a wall, dragged his body to a garage, tied him up, beat him to death, wrapped him in sheets, then put him into a trunk, driving him 150 miles to bury him in a shallow grave, does not warrant 1st Degree Murder, what does?

Personally, I would have added torture to their list of crimes.

[The KG9 Kid]

"... If, to paraphase Michael.SF; several guys crushed his skull with a frying pan, drove his head through a wall, dragged his body to a garage, tied him up, beat him to death, wrapped him in sheets, then put him into a trunk, driving him 150 miles to bury him in a shallow grave, does not warrant 1st Degree Murder, what does?"

Uh huh, and if the charges you outlined made the case such a slam dunk, why did the jury deadlock?

Read the link I provided in post #73 for insight.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Uh huh, and if the charges you outlined made the case such a slam dunk, why did the jury deadlock?

We'll find out it when one of them on the jury tries for a book deal... And this case will be retried.