Summary
Gerald Radford, accused of killing John “Walt” Lay in a hate crime, claims self-defense under Florida’s stand-your-ground law.
Prosecutors dispute Radford’s story, citing witness testimony of months of harassment, homophobic slurs, and a threatening video Lay shared.
The judge will rule on the stand-your-ground motion next week.
Lay shared a video claiming Radford had threatened him at the dog park the day before the shooting. In the video, Lay claimed he had an encounter with Radford at the park and that Radford told him, “You’re going to die.”
So, because this is Florida, I assume the judge will rule that this is a definite stand-your-ground case. Gotta defend yourself against catching a case of the gays.
It may be Florida, but let’s not forget that they also (rightly) ruled against that lady who shot that 17yo black kid through her door, citing the same law as her defense.
Are you really not aware of how intensely queerphobic the Florida justice system is?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_rights_in_Florida#Gay_and_trans_panic_defense
In fact, I’m amazed this guy didn’t decide to go with the ‘gay panic’ defense.
