A California man who was upset by Merriam-Webster’s inclusive gender definitions threatened to bomb the publisher’s offices and sent “threatening and despicable” messages targeting the LGBT community.
Jeremy David Hanson, 34, was arrested Tuesday and charged with one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence i in October, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced Friday. Prosecutors say Hanson used the “Contact Us” page on Merriam-Webster’s website to send threatening messages and comments “demonstrating bias against specific gender identities.” Under the handle @anonYmous, he also made threats in the comment sections of webpages for the word entries “Girl” and “Woman.”
Hanson was released on conditions after an initial federal court appearance, prosecutors said. He is set to return to court on April 29. His charge carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
Jonathan Schmitz was 24-years-old when his acquaintance Scott Amedure revealed he was romantically interested in him during the March 5th, 1995 taping of “The Jenny Jones Show,’ on secret admirers.
Schmitz, who said he wasn’t gay, later fatally shot Amedure in Lake Orion. Michigan three days later.
Schmitz turned himself in to police, saying he killed Amedure because he was embarrassed on national television.
Schmitz stated that he went on the show out of curiosity, and he later claimed that the producers implied that his admirer was a woman, although the producers of the show claim that they did tell Schmitz that the admirer could be male or female.
According to footage of the murder trial, it was later stated by a friend of Amedure’s that Amedure and Schmitz went out drinking together the night of the taping and an alleged sexual encounter occurred. According to the testimony at the murder trial, three days after the taping, Amedure left a “suggestive” note at Schmitz’s house. After finding the note, Schmitz withdrew money from the bank, purchased a shotgun, and then went to Amedure’s mobile home. He questioned Amedure about the note. Schmitz then returned to his car, took his gun, and returned to Amedure’s trailer. He then shot Amedure twice in the chest, killing him.
Schmitz was sentenced 25 to 50 years for second-degree murder.
Schmitz, now 47, was granted parole after a March 2017 hearing and was released from Parnall Correctional Institution after serving 22 years.
Scott Amedure’s older brother, Frank Amedure Jr. said he’s troubled by the parole decision and that he’s unsure Schmitz ‘learned what he should have’ in prison.
‘I wanted assurance that the (parole board’s) decision was not based on just good behavior in prison,’ he said.
‘I’d like to know that he learned something, that he’s a changed man, is no longer homophobic and has gotten psychological care.’
In 1999, the Amedure family sued The Jenny Jones Show, Telepictures, and Warner Bros. for the ambush tactics and, as the Amedure family saw it, their supposedly negligent role that led to Amedure’s death. In May of that year, the jury awarded the Amedures $25 million dollars. The jury found that The Jenny Jones Show was both irresponsible and negligent, contending that the show intentionally created an explosive situation without due concern for the possible consequences.
The judgment was later overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals in a 2-to-1 decision. The Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
The episode was never publicly aired in it’s entirety until many years after the incident.
This week New Jersey joined Hawaii, California, Nevada, Illinois, New York, Connecticut, Maine and Rhode Island in barring the use of the “gay panic defense”
The bill was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, who said: “We will always stand with our LGBT+ community and promote full equality for all our residents,” Murphy said in a statement.
The LGBT Bar, a legal nonprofit, has been on the forefront of getting the gay panic defenses banned across the country. The organization defines the controversial practice as “a legal strategy that asks a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation is to blame for a defendant’s violent reaction, including murder.”
“The ‘gay panic or trans panic’ defense is not a freestanding defense to criminal liability, but rather a legal tactic. It’s used to diminish the reason for a defendant’s violent reaction that asks a jury to find a victim’s sexual orientation or gender/expression as the cause,” said John McKeon (D- Essex, Morris). “Whether the person was gay, transgender or heterosexual, sexual orientation should not have any bearing on determining a person’s guilt in a murder trial.
“This law is a major step forward in addressing discrimination in our court system, and showing New Jersey’s LGBTQ community that we stand with them in solidarity against any type of discrimination and hatred,” said Joann Downey (D-Monmouth). “The so-called ‘gay panic defense’ or ‘trans panic defense’ has never been more than a transparent attempt to allow the assault or murder of LGBTQ individuals to happen with impunity, and it is long past time that we ended this dark chapter in American legal history.”
According to police reports the assailant punched “Victim 1” in the head and slammed the victim against a glass window. Victim 1 was knocked unconscious and needed staples in his head to close the laceration.
Timothy Luke identified himself on Facebook as one of the victims. Luke said that his husband Andy Jackson and their friend Jeremy Austin were also the victims of the attack.
To our dear family and friends,
As many of you know, Andy and I are not individuals that like to post a lot on social media, especially when it comes to our personal lives. However, I am compelled to share this story of hate in hopes of opening the eyes of many into this sick world that for which we live.
On Thursday evening, my husband Andy, our dear friend Jeremy, and myself were victims of an assault. Many homosexual and derogatory slurs were stated during this attack, however, I am unable to firmly state whether this was a hate crime or just a heinous attack. After spending many hours in the ER until early Friday morning, Jeremy and I are lucky to have walked away with minor injuries. However, Andy was not as fortunate. A severe concussion and 7 staples on his scalp later, I was able to bring him home. Today is a much better day — and we have been able to speak to our families to let them know we are okay. Thus, I felt it was time to write this message.
Whether we see it or witness it personally, hate occurs every day in so many forms. For some reason, there are many individuals in this world that want to hate and cause division because of the differences between us. Rather, we should celebrate our diversity and open our eyes to how our differences can better our world.
The last 36 hours have been a series of emotions — fear of leaving the apartment, blessed that the injuries sustained were not as bad as what they could have been, anger for the hate that is promoted within our community, but most importantly — HOPE. We have decided to not allow this to define us. Yet, we are going to continue to use the fear and anger from this event and put that energy into continuing to make a positive difference.
What I ask of each of you is to help us do the same. Support one another. Allow others to express and be themselves. Accept each other’s differences. LOVE one another.
This event will not stop us — so, I urge each of you to stand with us as we turn this pain into courage and strength. We will not hide who we are; yet, we will continue to be resilient and to fight for the safety and rights for ALL human beings.
We love you all. Thank you for your love and support.
Always,
Luke and Andy
D.C. Police have asked that anyone who has any information about the attack call (202) 727-9099.
The recent hacking into the Capital One database which is the largest breach in US history was allegedly done by a 33-year-old trans woman and software engineer named Paige A. Thompson. Thompson also threatened to “shoot up” a California social media company and was living in a house-turned-arsenal with a convicted felon who had once been arrested for being part of a “contract murder plot,” federal court papers in Seattle revealed.
Thompson was arrested Monday for allegedly hacking into a server rented by Capital One and obtaining the data of more than 100 million people.
It was not clear if any of the information Thompson allegedly snatched was passed to third-parties. She was charged with one count of computer fraud and abuse and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Quan was arrested the same day after police raided his “modest” home and found in his bedroom “what can fairly be described as an arsenal of weapons, ammunition, and explosive material,” the court papers state.
Among other things, police found “several assault rifles, a sniper rifle, and hand guns,” the papers state. “Some of the guns were loaded, including one with a high capacity magazine. Further, some of the guns appears to be illegal firearms.”
On the social media site, Slack, a user by the name “Erratic,” and who was allegedly Thompson, in June boasted about having files taken from Capital One, according to the criminal complaint against her.
In a separate Twitter message obtained by the FBI, Thompson also described the Capital One hack as a suicide mission.
“I’ve basically strapped myself with a bomb vest,” Thompson wrote on June 18, according to court documents. “F–king dropping capitol ones dox and admitting it.”
Thompson also regularly shared details of her life on other social media sites as well, from information about her cat, Millie, to talking about her desire to kill herself. In one tweet claimed she was planning to travel to Denmark in October for legally assisted suicide.
It was a veterinarian letter Thompson posted on July 19 with her home address that ultimately led FBI agents to her door.
Three teenagers have been arrested for an attack on a gay couple in Washington, D.C., early Sunday morning.
One of the victims, Karl Craven, stated that he and his boyfriend — whom he did not name — encountered the suspects when they stopped to talk to each other while walking from Hawthorne’s restaurant to Nellie’s, a popular gay sports bar.
“He was leaning against me and a few guys started yelling ‘faggot’ at him and started to swing at him. It was all a quick blur but next thing you know there was literally a mob of 15 guys beating him. They came out of nowhere and I was powerless to stop them, all I could do was jump on him to try to protect him and scream help.”
The suspects include Marcus Britt, 19, and two juvenile males, ages 15 and 16, according to a statement released by the Metro Police department. The three suspects, all from Fort Washington, Maryland, were charged with robbery by force and violence after allegedly assaulting at least one of the victims and fleeing with his property.
Over the past year, multiple attacks against gay men have been recorded around the U Street area in D.C. . Last September, two gay men were beaten by a violent group using homophobic slurs, and in April 2018, two other gay men were hospitalized following an assault
One of two men accused of using Grindr to lure gay men to a vacant apartment in Dallas where they’d be beaten, robbed and sexually assaulted has pleaded guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
Michael Atkinson, 24, pleaded guilty on Thursday to kidnapping and conspiracy charges in connection with his involvement in the scheme. The victims in the case — nine of them — range in age from 19 to 57.
Atkinson and Daniel Jenkins, 19, are accused of using Grindr to create fake profiles, posing as gay men and luring men to a vacant apartment at the Solana Ridge Apartment complex in East Dallas.
Atkinson faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison for the kidnapping charge and five years in prison for the conspiracy charge, and a fine of up to $250,000 with respect to each offense. The maximum statutory sentence prescribed by Congress
Police are looking for a person who shot two people at a Palm Springs night club early Sunday. The shooting was reported just before 2 a.m. at Toucans Toucans Tiki Lounge, 2100 N. Palm Canyon Drive. Neither victim’s injuries were life threatening, Palm Springs police Sgt. Ryan Raso said.
The incident began when two people got into an argument inside the club and were escorted outside. Someone fired two rounds, hitting one person outside and another person inside. Each victim was struck in the lower part of their body, Raso said.
The shooter is described as a Hispanic man in his 20s or 30s. He wore a black hat, black hooded sweatshirt, black sweatpants and had tattoos on his neck.
Police say there were several witnesses to the shooting, but they also fled before officers arrived.
Kian Willis of Brockton, Massachusetts was arrested and arraigned in Brockton District Court on Nov. 29. 2018 for killing his boyfriend to hide their gay relationship
He was indicted on a murder charge Monday by a Plymouth County grand jury.
Prosecutors from the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office told the Brockton Enterprise they used phone records and surveillance footage to trace Willis to Keith Avenue, where Willis shot and killed his boyfriend Patrick Sequeira-Ferreira,
When police interviewed Willis, he was concerned that people would find out about his relationship with Sequeira-Ferreira, and was afraid of losing his job, given that both him and the victim worked together at the Office of Community Corrections where relationships with co-workers are forbidden.
Willis will be arraigned in Superior Court at a later date.
Four men were arrested in Louisville, KY last Saturday night after police say they beat and robbed a man, while yelling homophobic slurs about his sexual orientation.
According to police reports, the incident took place on Saturday, just before 10 a.m. When Louisville Metro Police were sent to the crime scene after someone reported that a group of men were attacking another man.
When officers arrived, they found a man who was bleeding from his face and mouth.
The man told officers that four men punched and kicked him until he fell to the ground while yelling anti- gay slurs at him. One of the attackers also took his cell phone and wallet.
Police ultimately arrested 29-year-old Shaun Logsdon, 32-year-old Aaron Cox, 31-year-old Christopher Philpott and 37-year-old John Hamilton. According to the arrest reports, the victim lived with two of the men and was able to identify them by name. He identified another suspect as “John-John” and gave a physical description of the fourth.
The four men were arrested in later that day where the victim’s cell phone was recovered.
They are all charged with first-degree robbery.
There is no word if federal hate crime charges will be filed.
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