Pretty much everything is unpleasant in the story of Daeveion Mangum and Michael Castagne, and the details set to come out at trial will probably be even worse.
Here’s the backstory: Michael was a 60-year-old man who ran an amateur adult site as a side business. (His regular job was managing a wine bar.) His site’s videos tended to involve “medical exams” with other men.
And then, one day, he was found bludgeoned to death and his studio set on fire. According to police, he was killed by Daeveion, a model he’d hired and worked with on a few previous pictures. On this occasion, according to a witness, Michael had pressured the suspect to appear with another man in a scene, but Daeveion refused. The other man left the studio, but when he heard that Michael had been killed, came forward to accuse him.
The trial began this week, and prosecutors say that Daeveion killed Michael by hitting him over the head 32 times (yikes) and then setting him on fire. Gruesome. The defense maintains that he was simply acting in self-defense after Michael tried to sexually assault him.
How about we take this to the next level?
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It’s impossible to know exactly what happened, but as defenses go, it certainly reminds one of the “gay panic” strategy employed by gay bashers everywhere. Though it’s fallen out of favor these days, there was a time when all an assailant had to say was “he came on to me” to have charges dismissed.
That may not be what happened here — it’s possible that self-defense was indeed called for. But it’s hard to imagine why it was also necessary to set Michael’s body on fire after he was killed.
Bob LaBlah
Here’s what makes this ENTIRE story sound like B/S. If the guy is on trial for a murder that means that a body was found. A motive has been established and enough evidence has been presented where they proceed to trial.
Be THAT the case then why the hell was the city, state. name of the local police department and a few other details necessary to make the story credible to readers excluded? This sounds like a story from a drunk at a local gay bar during happy hour. The basics for reporting are when, where, what, when, why and how must be included for credibility. Come guys, get it together over there on the east coast. You can do better than this I’m sure.
Juanjo
@Bob LaBlah: Well Bob, I guess you missed the previous news items or comments about this which which have appeared since it happened. This is why Goggle can be your friend. Plug in the names in the article and up pops a lot of information. I get the being suspicious about blind items but this one is an ongoing thing and had two names in it.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20160804-richardson-pornographer-slain-with-hammer-after-playing-doctor-went-too-far-defendant-testifies.ece
Stache
@Juanjo: Thanks for that.
It’s going to be hard to find a sympathetic jury when they find out Castagne has a prior sexual assault on a child.
Kangol
@Juanjo: Thanks for the illuminating link. I agree with Stache; Castagne’s conviction for involving a child in sex isn’t going to help the case against Mangum. The strange thing is, as soon as I read the Queerty report, I wondered, did this occur in Texas? Not sure why, but that’s immediately what I thought.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
Where is the story about the gay Syrian that was behedded in Turkey? I can’t find that story on Queerty for some reason.
Kangol
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey: Good point. Or the gay people who’re stoned to death in Saudi Arabia. Never hear much about them. Hmm. I wonder why?
Stilinski26
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey: I was gonna say the same thing the only Gay media that mentioned it was Attitude magazine! Instead of continuous news about Trump they need to report on real news
Bromancer7
@Baba Booey Fafa Fooey: @Kangol: If either of you believe Queerty to be a news site you both need to have your meds adjusted.