Connecticut governor signs bill banning 'gay panic defense'

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut's governor signed legislation Friday banning use of the so-called "gay or trans panic" defense in criminal cases.

The defense is a controversial legal strategy that seeks to use a victim's sexual orientation or identity as justification for a violent crime. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont said that implies the life of a gay or transgender person is valued less than others and Connecticut won't allow homophobia and transphobia to justify violent crime.

Neighboring Rhode Island banned the defense last year.

Massachusetts congressmen are trying to ban it in federal court. Democratic Sen. Edward Markey and Rep. Joe Kennedy re-introduced a bill this month to curtail the availability and effectiveness of the gay and trans panic defenses, a step many in the legal community have been urging for years.

Lamont made note of the 1998 death of Matthew Shepard, the college student who was beaten to death by two men in Wyoming. Defense attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to use the gay panic defense. A judge would not allow it and those men were convicted.

Read more: https://www.ctpost.com/news/ctpost/article/Connecticut-governor-signs-bill-banning-gay-14030157.php