Diogenes, I could ask what cite you have that I, as a Texan, was complicit in the selection of these officers, these prosecutors, and all the judges involved. We’re both on shaky ground, but the difference is one is on offense throwing out damnations and the other is on defense throwing out hypothetical situations as shields. If you wish to pursue your vendetta against Texans we can do so, otherwise we can talk facts and not judge the morality of millions of citizens based upon one, pretty much ignored by the media until this point, case.
I’d never heard of this case before, but I’ve done some research on it now through their attorney’s website. They have been represented by Lambda Legal, a group of attorneys “committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, the transgendered, and people with HIV or AIDS through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.” The page on thier site with articles detailing the history of the case(from their PoV of course) can be found at http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/cases/record?record=93.
Let’s put some facts into the record before we go further.[ul]
[li]The report was of an armed intruder in the man’s apartment.[/li][li]The men were not ‘out’ at the time. They were outed by the mug shots which were published in the media coverage the trial recieved.[/li][li]The couple was arrested and held a little over 24 hours in jail.[/li][li]The couple pleaded “no contest” to the charges.[/li][li]A county court dismissed their motion to have the charge quashed.[/li][li]At this point Lambda took the case and appealed to the Texas Court of Appeals.[/li][li]The Texas Court of Appeals panel who first heard the case DID strike the law down as unconstitutional. A 2-1 decision.[/li][li]On a motion by the State, the full membership of the Texas Court of Appeals(14th Circuit) overturned the panel’s ruling. The vote was 7-2.[/li][li]The case was appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest state court for this type of case. The Court of Criminal Appeals did not accept the appeal and never heard the case.[/li][li]The sodomy law has been on the books since 1860 but was revised in 1974 to exclude heterosexual oral and anal sex acts.[/li][/ul]A disturbing case for someone who supports equal protection for homosexuals. Odd that I hadn’t encountered it since the original arrest was in 1998 and I’m pretty omnivorious when it comes to news. The piece that reall bothers me was the motion to quash which was denied. Any legal beagles have any info on what this would mean? Was it a possibly a procedural thing? Could it have been motivated by something other than homophobia?
It doesn’t really bother me that the state made the motion to have the full court of appeals rule instead of just a panel. As a matter of course I appreciate the full court’s input on a constitutional matter. I disagree with their decision though.
The decision of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals not to hear the case doesn’t suprise me in the least. This court just plain sucks ass and I’m doing my damndest to vote these bastards off at every opportunity.
The real chain of events was some cops arrested the guys, either out of homophobia, a raging sense of following the letter of the law, or annoyance they had been called out on a false alarm. They pleaded “no contest”, which pretty much forced the state to try them. Then, when they were convicted the Lambda group stepped in and this became a fight for gay rights. Two court levels this went through. A criminal court whose findings of fact(forced by the no contest plea) rendered a verdict of guilty. Then the appeals court whose panel ruled it unconstitutional, but the full court overturned the panel.
So let’s look at it. There’s potential homophobia here in a couple of places. The cops, they could have just backed off and written it off as a false alarm, but there were other possibilities as well. The prosecutor had no choice but to try the case because of the “no contest” plea. The original judge’s hands were tied because of the “no contest” as well. Good chance of homophobia on the 14th Court of Appeals when they overturned the panel’s ruling. Inconclusive on the Court of Criminal Appeals, but you can lambast them all you want and I won’t defend them. So, two somewhat legit accusations of homophobia can be leveled, against the cops and against the 14th Court of Appeals. Since the 14th court is local to Houston it doesn’t really extend to all of Texas now does it?
Enjoy,
Steven
