“Perversion” Killer Gets Life For Gruesome Gay Slay


Texas man Terry Mark Mangum faces a dismal future.

A judge this week sentenced the 27-year old to life in prison for the 2007 murder of 46-year old Kenneth Cummings, a flight attendant Mangum met at a local gay bar. After leaving the bar together, Mangum went to Cummings house, where he stabbed him in the head before burning and burying the body.

It was, schizophrenic Mangum says, God’s plan:

Shortly after the murder, Mangum admitted to the crime in a jailhouse interview with a reporter from The Facts, a Brazoria County newspaper. Mangum told the reporter, who testified during the weeklong trial, that God had called on him to “carry out a code of retribution” by killing a gay man because “sexual perversion” is “the worst sin.”

Mangum later pleaded not guilty to the crime by reason of insanity. Psychologists testified during the trial that Mangum is delusional and schizophrenic, according to The Facts. Mangum, who went by the names of biblical characters during interviews with the reporter and police, believed he was “anointed and appointed by God” to commit the murder, the psychologists testified.

The insanity plea wasn’t enough to save Mangum from a hate crime charge, which accounts for his steep sentencing and makes parole a bit tricky. But he won’t have to worry about that for about thirty years or so.

On another note – Mangum? That’s unfortunate.

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