[aristeides]

The only way I even found out that he was dead (of assault) was a google search I did that matched up his name with a police request for more information to solve his murder.

If that's all you know, doesn't that leave it uncertain whether the assault was really "unrelated"?

[weegee]

Police didn't include it as a factor in the assault charge and as the caller's name got little press until he himself was sentenced, it is doubtful that anyone knew who he was outside of the 2 men who took their cases to the Supreme Court).

I do consider it possible that there was a conspiracy to create the circumstance which brought them to court, I do not alledge any conspiracy to silence the caller.

Courts Holds Bush Supported Law Unconstitutional (Dateline: June 10, 2000)

The officers had been responding to a call from a third men that there was an armed intruder in the home. The caller turned out to be Garner's roommate and he was later sentenced to 30 days in jail for filing a false report.

At trial, Lawrence and Garner pleaded "no contest" in order to create an appealable finding of guilt.

Texas Sex Bust Sparks Challenge (November 7, 1998)

Prosecutions for private consensual sex acts are so rare that the laws are difficult to challenge, although their impact is frequently felt when they are cited in regards to other issues, such as discrimination, employment and adoption. Texas activists tried to raise a civil challenge to the sodomy law in 1994, but the state Supreme Court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction in the case because the plaintiffs had not been prosecuted under the sodomy law. In fact, only two or three sodomy cases have been prosecuted over the last 30 years in the state, and all those involved sex acts that took place in public jails in view of witnesses. Ironicaly, the infrequent enforcement of sodomy laws has also been used to justify leaving them on the books. Attorney for Garner and Lawrence Mitchell Katine, can now say, "For all those people who have said over the years that this statute is never enforced need to realize that that's not true."

So Texas activists, while outraged about the circumstances of the case, are enthusiastic about its potential. "We certainly hope to move this forward, and we'd love to see it move all the way up the ladder and be declared unconstitutional," said Houston Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus president Clarence Bagby. "We need to get this [sodomy law] off the books." Harris County District Attorney John B. Holmes Jr. agrees with the strategy. Although he intends to prosecute Garner and Lawrence under the presumption that the law is constitutional, he said, "But I've always said that the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it."

This article also gave the wrong name (or an alias) for the caller: Roger David Nance. Several articles seemed to source the same article and propagated the name. There were also conflicting accounts of whether he served 15 or 30 days.

Appeals Court Rejects State’s Sodomy Law (June 9, 2000)

Robert Royce Eubanks, who was Garner’s roommate, was convicted of filing the false report and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Here is a blog that speculated that the caller was homophobic.

Some gay press articles say that the roomate was John Lawrence's, others say Tyrone Garner's. They don't care to get it right, just to get it on.

This wuote from John Holmes above "But I've always said that the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it" and you'll see that there were some in the GOP who wanted to see this change come about. The blame needs to be focused on the DA, Chuck Rosenthal for playing to conservatives that he was doing his job by arguing the case effectively. I'm not even sure if that was Johnny Holmes quote or Chuck's quote (Chuck was the DA who handled the case).

Here is the police report on the dead caller:

Houston Police Online (October 17, 2000)

A man assaulted in the 3900 block of Faulkner on October 10 has died from his injuries.

Robert Royce Eubanks, 42, suffered severe head wounds and was pronounced dead last Saturday (Oct. 14) at Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Eubanks had left a residence on Faulkner, where he had been visiting a friend, and was seen walking in the 3900 block of Faulkner. Someone from the residence on Faulkner contacted 911 and Eubanks was transported to the hospital.

There is no known motive or suspect in this case at this time.

I found this new article which shed more light on Garner and Eubanks abusive relationship:

Men whose sodomy case led to Supreme Court ruling keep low profile(Lawrence Garner Texas)