Nathaniel Mims and Rasheed Thomas, two men from Queens, New York, are facing hate crime charges today for the July 2009 attack on transgender woman Carmella Etienne, who was hit with rocks and bottles while the pair allegedly screamed anti-queer slurs. They face 15 years if convicted. Also in New York City: Correction officer Roberto Morales was yesterday arrested and charged with repeatedly raping a MTF trans inmate placed with male prisoners — the second such person to sexually assault her while she was incarcerated. (The first, a male nurse, plead guilty.) He faces up to four years in jail.
Is Justice Near For 2 Trans New Yorkers Viciously Attacked?
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claudia
wtf – why is he only facing up to 4 years in jail??? that is messed up.
Syl
@claudia: That’s the justice system for ya. Most people are surprised at the short sentences rapists serve. A lot of folks would be all for having it be life sentence, and some of the more radical of my girlfriends have said they’d like it to be a capital offense for repeat offenders and those who rape minors or severely injure their victims.
Still, some justice is better than none. I hope the boys give him a warm welcome; it’s not every day they get a corrections officer thrown in with them.
maxpower
We need to arm ourselves. The police and the courts won’t protect the GLBT community from crime, we need to protect ourselves. In states where it is legal get a concealed carry permit and a gun. In other places, knives aren’t obsolete yet.
S
Assuming that there was no vaginal penetration, the prosecutor could have charged either of the following crimes. A class E felony carries a maximum sentence of 4 years. A class B felony carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
These are from the New York Penal Law:
§ 130.50 Criminal sexual act in the first degree.
A person is guilty of criminal sexual act in the first degree when he
or she engages in oral sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct with
another person:
1. By forcible compulsion; or
2. Who is incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless;
or
3. Who is less than eleven years old; or
4. Who is less than thirteen years old and the actor is eighteen years
old or more.
Criminal sexual act in the first degree is a class B felony.
§ 130.40 Criminal sexual act in the third degree.
A person is guilty of criminal sexual act in the third degree when:
1. He or she engages in oral sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct
with a person who is incapable of consent by reason of some factor other
than being less than seventeen years old;
2. Being twenty-one years old or more, he or she engages in oral
sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct with a person less than seventeen
years old; or
3. He or she engages in oral sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct
with another person without such person’s consent where such lack of
consent is by reason of some factor other than incapacity to consent.
Criminal sexual act in the third degree is a class E felony.
scott ny'er
@maxpower: Arming yourself is only good if one knows what to do with said arms. Just saying. I don’t mind seeing some gay basher get hurt but I want to make sure it’s the gay basher only who gets hurt.
Kev C
Transgenders in NYC who are arrested, are often placed with men in jail, and often raped. In some cases, they’ve contacted AIDS from such rapes. Imagine being arrested, not even indicted, and placed in jail for the weekend and repeatedly raped. This has been happening to transgenders in NYC for decades. It needs to be stopped.