| The Anti-Violence Project of Massachusetts strongly condemns the decision of a judge of the Boston Municipal Court May 27th to allow an admitted, convicted gaybasher to walk free. Defendant Fabio Brandao pled guilty to various charges including hate crimes charges arising out of his August 24, 2008 attack on three gay men and a woman walking along Columbus Avenue in Boston. According to Bay Windows, Brandao and three unapprehended fellow perpetrators "beat two of the men in the group so severely that they sustained concussions and have no memory of the assault. Throughout the attack the assailants allegedly called the victims 'fucking faggots'." See "South End Gaybashing Suspect Pleads Guilty," May 27, 2009, at http://www.baywindows.com/inde... .
Judge Thomas Horgan of the Boston Municpal Court, an appointee of former Governor Paul Cellucci, rejected the recommendation of Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley that Brandao be incarcerated. Commenting on the "wrist slap," Anti-Violence Project Chairperson Don Gorton accused Judge Horgan of "transgressing the will of the people of Massachusetts, as expressed by our legislature. Not one, but two criminal statutes provide for enhanced penalties for hate-motivated violence against LGBT people: G.L. c. 265, § 37; and G.L. c. 265, § 39."
Ironically, the Governor who appointed Horgan to the bench was himself instrumental in securing tougher legal penalties for gaybashing. Former Governor Cellucci, as Lieutenant Governor, helped pass amendments to G.L. c. 265, § 39 in 1996 which provided a 5 year felony prison sentence for anti-gay hate crimes that leave victims injured.
Gorton denounced the sentence as "a brazen act of judicial nullification. The safety of LGBT Bostonians is put at unacceptable risk when anti-gay violence, marked by the legislature for enhanced punishment, is met with leniency instead. The criminal justice system failed our community in the Brandao case, as it has done so often in the past." |
