Dumbest Defense Strategy Ever

The LGBTQ+ panic defense is a legal strategy where defendants charged with violent crimes weaponize their victims’ sexual orientation or gender identity to reduce or evade criminal liability. 

It’s important to note that this is not a freestanding defense, but rather a legal tactic that supports other defense claims. It's traditionally used to mitigate a case of murder to manslaughter or justified homicide in one of three ways:

• The first is insanity or diminished capacity, meaning the defendant alleges their victim’s romantic or sexual proposition triggered a nervous breakdown because of the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. 

• The second is the defense of provocation, where the defense alleges the victim’s romantic or sexual proposition provided reasonable provocation to attack or murder them. 

• The final defense is self-defense, where the defendant alleges they believed the victim intended to cause serious bodily harm because of the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. The panic defense is typically used in situations where the victim’s behavior does not meet the threat of serious bodily harm. 

This defense has been in the United States since the 1960s. While it has not been banned federally, the defense is banned in the following states and territories: California, Illinois, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, New York, D.C, Colorado, New Jersey, Washington, Maryland, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Delaware, Minnesota, and Michigan. 

To put this in a bit of perspective, 54% of the LGBTQ+ population in the US lives in states that do not prohibit the use of legal defenses claiming the victim's sexual orientation and/or gender identity contributed to the defendant's actions. 

Stories Behind Statistics 

An Associate Professor of Criminal Justice from  St. Edward’s University named Carsten Andresen conducted what is believed to be the largest analysis of gay/trans panic defense murder cases in the social sciences so far, which was released in 2021.

He studied the similarities and differences of 99 gay/trans panic defense cases that took place from 2000 to 2019. The study found that the gay/trans panic defense resulted in a reduction in charges from murder to manslaughter for 12 defendants. The study also found that defendants were more likely to inflict lethal violence on their gay victims using weapons that involved close and personal contact, which puts a spotlight on the brutality of these murders.

Of the cases involved in the study, about 43% involved knives and 22% involved objects such as crowbars, hammers, and tire jacks. For the 29 homicides of gay men that involved a knife, 25 out of 29 of the victims were stabbed multiple times; and at least 20 of these 29 victims were stabbed five or more times.

One of the earliest, highly covered cases where the panic defense was used was the murder of Chanelle Pickett. Born August 6, 1972, Chanelle was a black transgender woman. Both Chanelle and her twin sister Gabrielle identified as transgender women and were very close. In 1992, the two even appeared on the daytime talk show The Jenny Jones Show, where they discussed their lives and experiences, including the fact that their mother cut ties with them because of their gender identity. 

Chanelle was murdered in the early hours of November 20, 1995, in Watertown, Massachusetts. She was with her sister when she met William C. Palmer at the Playland Cafe - one of Boston’s transgender-friendly bars. William Palmer drove the Pickett sisters back to their apartment and stayed for a little while before inviting them both over to his place in hopes of a three-way, but only Chanelle went to Palmer's apartment with him.

Palmer’s roommates reported hearing sounds of "intense" struggle coming from Palmer's room in the early hours of the morning. He allegedly called an attorney who then called the police, and Chanelle's body was found that afternoon in Palmer’s apartment. Gabrielle was a key witness in the trial because she was able to reveal that Palmer always knew Chanelle was transgender, although he was claiming otherwise. 

Other transgender women came forward to support the claim that Palmer fetishized trans women and was a frequent customer of trans-friendly bars and spaces. Six trans people came forward and claimed that they had also had sexual encounters with Palmer, and two out of the six testified. A few days later, he changed his story and claimed that he had fallen asleep next to her while she was still alive and woke up to her dead, and that the cause of her death was drug-related.

Although the medical examiner ruled Chanelle Pickett's cause of death was manual strangulation, two defense experts argued against the medical examiner and said Pickett had died from drugs. On May 16, 1997, after three days of deliberation, Palmer was not convicted of murder, but was convicted of assault and battery and sentenced to two years in prison and five years of probation. Chanelle’s death later inspired the creation of Transgender Day of Remembrance, which aims to prevent the erasure of trans people who have been victims of anti-trans violence. The day is celebrated on November 20, the day of Chanelle’s death.

In the Spring of 1995, Scott Amedure was 32 years old when he was booked to be a guest on an episode of The Jenny Jones Show titled “Revealing Same Sex Secret Crush.”

The taped episode featured six unsuspecting guests, who were all invited to come on the show to meet a self-proclaimed “secret admirer.” The guests were straight and not informed that their secret admirer was gay. During the episode, each secret admirer publicly revealed their crush to the guest, and Jenny Jones interviewed the pair afterwards.

Scott admitted to being a secret admirer of Jonathan Schmitz, who was 24 at the time and an acquaintance of Scott’s who lived near him in Michigan. Jonathon didn’t know who would be revealed as his secret admirer until he stepped on stage. He later claimed that the show’s producers had implied his admirer was a woman, although the producers would deny that claim, saying that they told him that the admirer could be male or female.

Once Scott admitted his feelings, Jonathan laughed and then stated that he was heterosexual. According to footage of the murder trial, a friend of Scott’s stated that Scott and Jonathon went out drinking together the night after taping the show and that an alleged sexual encounter occurred. 

According to testimony, three days after the episode was recorded, Scott left a “suggestive” note at Jonathon’s house. After finding the note, Jonathon withdrew money from a bank, purchased a 12-gauge shotgun, and went to Scott’s mobile home in suburban Detroit. He asked Scott if he was the one who had left the note. 

According to court documents, Scott responded with a smile. Jonathon then returned to his car, got his gun, and went back to Scott’s trailer, where he shot him twice in the chest. After killing Scott, Johnathon drove to a nearby gas station and called 911, admitting his crime. When asked why he had done it, he said he’d been embarrassed on national TV. He was then arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

At the trial, his attorneys argued that he killed Scott because of his bipolar disorder and Graves’ disease, in addition to the gay panic defense. On November 13, 1996, Jonathon was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. He initially served two years of his sentence before the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned his conviction. 

He was then retried and convicted again of the same charge in 1999, with the original sentence reinstated. Jonathon was granted parole and was released from prison in August 2017, after serving 22 years of his sentence. 

One of the most high-profile cases that used that gay panic defense was the murder of Matthew Shepard. Matthew was 21 and a student at the University of Wyoming when he met Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson on Oct. 6, 1998, at a bar. 

The two men offered Matthew a ride home, but they didn’t bring him home. Instead, they drove to a remote rural area and proceeded to rob, pistol-whip, and torture Matthew. They tied him to a split-rail fence, leaving him to die. Reports described how Matthew was beaten so brutally that his face was completely covered in blood, except where it had been partially cleansed by his tears.

Matthew was in a coma, still tied to the fence for 18 hours after he was attacked. He was then discovered by a cyclist who initially mistook him for a scarecrow. He was still alive when police arrived on the scene, and he was brought to an advanced trauma ward in Colorado. 

He had suffered fractures to the back of his head and in front of his right ear. He experienced severe brainstem damage, which affected his body's ability to regulate his heart rate, body temperature, and other vital functions. There were also about a dozen small lacerations around his head, face, and neck. Matthew never regained consciousness and remained on full life support until he was pronounced dead on October 12, 1998. Six days after the attack.

The two were arrested and initially charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, and aggravated robbery. After Matthew’s death, the charges were upgraded from attempted murder to first-degree murder, which meant that the two defendants were eligible for the death penalty. Henderson pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping charges and avoided going to trial. 

To avoid the death penalty, Henderson agreed to testify against McKinney, and he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. McKinney's lawyer attempted to put forward a gay panic defense, arguing that he was driven to temporary insanity by alleged sexual advances by Matthew. This defense was rejected by the judge. Matthew’s parents brokered a deal that resulted in McKinney receiving two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

The federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was created following the murders of James Byrd Jr and Matthew Shepard, which allows the federal government to prosecute hate crimes, including those based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Tragically, there are many more cases where the LGBTQ+ panic defense has been used to justify horrific actions. According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 32 transgender and gender-expansive people have been killed through violent means, including gun and intimate partner violence, in 2024. 

78% of these victims were people of color, and 56% were black transgender women. 42% of victims whose killer is known were killed by a romantic/sexual partner, friend, or family member. 

In 2025 alone, 112 anti-trans bills have been passed so far. There are 920 bills under consideration that would negatively impact trans and gender non-conforming people. 

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