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Dorm beating defendant testifies: 'I was embarrassed' (Or the Gay Hate Crime That Wasn't)
Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | 6-11-03 | BILL MONTGOMERY

Posted on 06/11/2003 5:59:32 AM PDT by Lance Romance

Dorm beating defendant testifies: 'I was embarrassed'

By BILL MONTGOMERY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta/South Metro community page

A Fulton County Superior Court jury deliberates today on the fate of an expelled Morehouse College student accused of beating a fellow student with a 26-inch baseball bat because he was being stared at in the shower.

"I was scared; I was embarrassed because I was naked and he was looking at me," Aaron Price testified Tuesday afternoon about the events leading to his striking junior Gregory Love. Prosecutors contend Price seriously wounded Love on Nov. 3 because he thought he was the target of a sexual advance.

Price maintained on the stand that Love hit him first.

Price, the defendant, was the only witness called by the defense. A minister's son from Chicago, Price said he was in a dormitory shower when he sensed someone outside the stall. He turned to see a man's eyes peering over the curtain.

Price said he asked the man, "What's your problem?" The man replied, "I'm sorry; I thought you were my roommate." Price said when the man he learned was Love got into the adjoining shower, "We were cussing at each other.

"He said, 'Shut up, or I'll kick your [rear],' " Price added.

Price, who is 5 foot 3 inches tall, said he left the shower, went to his room, dressed, and grabbed the bat he had used in Little League. He said he returned and tapped the bat on the stall occupied by the 6-foot-2 inch Love.

"I knew he was big and tall, and I needed protection," Price testified. He added that Love "jumped out at me" swinging his fists. "Did he hit you?" defense attorney Tony Axam asked.

"In the lip," Price replied.

Price said he responded by swinging the bat at Love and missing, before connecting once.

Love suffered a fractured skull and underwent surgery at Atlanta Medical Center for a blood clot in the brain.

Price denied testimony from Love on Monday that he ever shouted anti-gay epithets at Love, even after Love told him he was not gay.

If convicted, and the jury believes a crime was committed because Price thought Love was gay, Price could face heavier penalties.

Price's is the first case to come to trial under Georgia's July 2000 hate crime law. It mandates increased sentences for crimes motivated by race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

If Price is found guilty of aggravated assault and aggravated battery against Love, the trial will enter a penalty phase, in which the jurors will hear evidence on whether the crime was motivated or aggravated by bias against someone he thought was homosexual.

Erik Friedly, spokesman for Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, said the hate crime law could add an additional five years to a sentence. Price could get a maximum sentence of 20 years each for aggravated assault and aggravated battery; sentence length would be set by the judge, Friedly said.

Under cross-examination from Assistant District Attorney Kellie Hill, when prosecutors asked him to demonstrate how he swung the bat at Love, Price restated that Love initiated the fight.

"The boy threatened to kick my [rear]. . . . I was embarrassed and hurt. I hit him in the head, but I didn't bash him."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: beatmeyouthavage; lovecrime; lovehurts; loveliesbleeding; roughtrade; waywaaaaaaaytoobutch
If Price is found guilty of aggravated assault and aggravated battery against Love, the trial will enter a penalty phase, in which the jurors will hear evidence on whether the crime was motivated or aggravated by bias against someone he thought was homosexual.

Here is the Hate Crime Legislation in all it's glory. Additional penalties because someone called someone else a name while attacking them.

1 posted on 06/11/2003 5:59:32 AM PDT by Lance Romance
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To: Lance Romance
Hmmm. Left the scene, armed himself, returned and reopened the conflict. Not exactly what I'd look for in a test case against hate crime legislation.
2 posted on 06/11/2003 6:03:31 AM PDT by m1911
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To: m1911
Price, who is 5 foot 3 inches tall, said he left the shower, went to his room, dressed, and grabbed the bat he had used in Little League. He said he returned and tapped the bat on the stall occupied by the 6-foot-2 inch Love.

Slam dunk.

3 posted on 06/11/2003 6:05:13 AM PDT by Wolfie
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To: m1911
This is a case of premeditated assault, certainly not a hate crime. Have you considered the possibility that they exchanged words after the initial incident and that was the reason for the attack?
4 posted on 06/11/2003 6:09:29 AM PDT by Lance Romance
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To: Lance Romance
If I were Price, I would file a Sexual Harrassment suit aginst the university because they did not protect him from unwanted sexual attention.
5 posted on 06/11/2003 6:13:30 AM PDT by Kenton
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To: Lance Romance
The Thought Crime Police strike again.
6 posted on 06/11/2003 6:13:41 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: Lance Romance
My question is why is the other one not charged with confinement and trespass.
7 posted on 06/11/2003 6:14:55 AM PDT by lavaroise
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To: Lance Romance
Damn, this hate-crime thing's getting complicated. Here ya got two black guys (Morehouse coll. - ATL, so it goes without saying) going at it. Can't be racism, then.

Whoa! One dude ogles another? Bingo!

Let's try this... someone calls someone a "fundamentalist Christian"... whereupon the name-caller is beaten senseless.

Q: who comitted the hate crime?

8 posted on 06/11/2003 6:17:32 AM PDT by banjo joe
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To: Lance Romance
Well, since the big guy was still in the shower when Price came back, that seems unlikely.
9 posted on 06/11/2003 6:21:22 AM PDT by m1911
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To: m1911
You aren't a lawyer, that's obvious.
10 posted on 06/11/2003 6:23:28 AM PDT by Lance Romance
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To: Lance Romance
The lesson here is to tell the person you love them while bashing their brains in.
11 posted on 06/11/2003 6:32:12 AM PDT by Lysander (My army can kill your army)
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To: Lance Romance
No, I'm not. But I guess one could enlighten me how they exchanged words while one was getting dressed and getting his bat and the other was in the shower.
12 posted on 06/11/2003 6:33:40 AM PDT by m1911
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To: Lysander
"Love Hurts..."
13 posted on 06/11/2003 6:47:14 AM PDT by laker_dad
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To: m1911
Hmmm. Left the scene, armed himself, returned and reopened the conflict. Not exactly what I'd look for in a test case against hate crime legislation.

If Price believed that Love's threat was sincere, then 'leaving the scene' really isn't an issue. Presumably, Price could reasonably expect he would see Love again. 'Leaving the scene', in this case, would seem to require leaving school.

He did arm himself with a bat. Now, he is 5' 3" and Love is 6' 2". It only seems prudent that if he felt threatened he would take measures to mitigate his disadvantage.

He did return and reopen the conflict. For me, this is the hardest part to defend. One might ask why he didn't go back to his room and leave it alone. I suppose the counter to that is that he may have felt Love's threat was more than momentary. That is, Love said he was going to kick his a$$ and Price believed that the threat did not pass with the moment. In that case, he confronted what he considered to be an 'on going' threat. If someone I deal with on a daily basis threatens me and I remove myself from their presence, it is reasonable for me to assume that the threat still exists at our next meeting.

14 posted on 06/11/2003 7:05:10 AM PDT by Pete
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To: m1911
Listen up, as stated in the story. After the initial incident where he peeked over the shower stall, words were exchanged. This is obviously the part where tempers flared and the guy decided to exact justice via a Louisville Slugger.
15 posted on 06/11/2003 7:24:39 AM PDT by Lance Romance
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To: Lance Romance
Yes that's obvious. But it doesn't change the fact that after the trash talk, Price left, dressed, retrieved a weapon and returned to escalate the conflict. In other words, there was a separation in both time and space, which makes me agree with you about it being premeditated. Also, I wouldn't call beating a guy with a bat for looking in a shower stall "justice".

I have a feeling that there is something (or a lot of things) we're not hearing here, but I Googled this and haven't seen much to make Price look any better in this incident.
16 posted on 06/11/2003 7:44:31 AM PDT by m1911
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To: m1911
Price didn't start it, he just finished it.
17 posted on 06/11/2003 8:08:25 AM PDT by Lance Romance
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