[Dallas Times Herald clipping: Make sure to check with the judge before you kill anybody] Part: 1 of 2
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Dallas Times Herald
Makesure to check with the judge before you kill anybody
A USTIN - 'N THE FLAP
Over the pot-sentencing re-
marks of Judge Jack Hampton,
Who gave a do, -ble murderer a
relatively light 0 years because
"I don't much care for queers
cruising the streets picking up
teenage boys," t; e first thing you
want to note is hat the judge is
seriously wrong about the facts
of the case. Thi: k whatever you
want about hc nosexuals, the
case of the killer Richard Lee
Bednarski had nothing to do
With "queers cr ising the streets
picking up teenage boys."
*In fact, the killings were quite
the reverse of that situation: Bed-
narski and his friends were cruis-
ing the streets looking for gay
men to "pester," as they put it at
the trial. The pastime is actually
known as "queer-bashing" and
the purpose is to find homosexu-
als to beat up. In this case, Bed-
narski shot two unarmed gay
men three times each and then
went around bragging about it af-
terward.
Hampton, normally a "hanging
judge," said he decided against
giving Bednarski life because
some murder victims are worth
less than others. "I put prosti-
tutes and gays at about the same
level. If these boys had picked
up two prostitutes and takenf
MOLLY IVINS
them to the woods and killed
them, I'd consider that a similar
vase. And I'd be hard put to give
somebody life for killing a prosti-
tute."
What a novel legal theory. By
logical extension, what about a
murder victim who is a shoplift-
er? Is murdering a shoplifter
worth a life sentence? What
about a tax cheat? Or a hypo-
crite? Or a bigot?
There being a hierarchy of
life-value in the mind of Hamp-
ton, is the life of a banker who
gambles and drives drunk worth
more than the life of a mechanic
who smokes a little dope? Where
does he stand on artists - some
people think artists are just para-
sites on society. Others think
lawyers are parasites on society.
What about a woman who is not
a prostitute, but who might logi-call be mistaken for a prostitute,
say she's in the "wrong part of
town at night" and dressed sug-
gestively to boot? Is she less in-
nocent than another murder vic-
tim? Could a murderer then
plead "honest mistake" to Hamp-
ton?
There is another aspect to the
judge's reasoning that deserves
consideration. "I have a teenage
boy," he said, as though he need-
ed to be concerned that "cruising
queers" would kidnap his son
and turn him into a homosexual.
People don't make other people
gay: Homosexuality is not infec-
tious, you can't catch it, it is in-
nate. People either are gay or
they aren't (exceptfor some con-
fused citizens in the middle) - it
is not taught or learned or ac-
quired, it is not a choice. People
come black or white, male or fe-
male, gay or straight - they
don't have any choice about it.
Even being raped by a homosex-
ual doesn't make someone homo-
sexual. It just makes them a vic-
tim of rape. There is no evidence
that gays are any more prone to
molest children than straight
men - in fact, there are propor-
tionally fewer gays in prison for
the crime of child molesting than
there are straight men.
The Commission on JudicialConduct has recently censured
Charlie Ben Howell for filing
frivolous lawsuits and disciplined
Judge Bill Kilgarlin because two
of his clerks took a free plane
ride to Las Vegas, without his
knowledge or permission. What
does the Commission on Judicial
Conduct have to say about rank
prejudice on the part of a judge?
Such prejudice does raise legal
issues: in cases where prejudice
can be clearly demonstrated, that
prejudice has been used to set
aside entire criminal penalties.
For example, when the Supreme
Court overturned the death pen-
alty for rape, it did so on the
grounds that the record clearly
showed prejudice - of the 455
men who were executed for rape
between 1930 and 1967, 405 were
black men who had raped white
women: No white man was ever
executed for raping a black wom-
an. The court found that record
of prejudicetso appalling, it set
aside the death penalty.
Not even in Texas are homo-
sexuals considered criminals by
virtue of being homosexual. Ho-
mosexual acts are still proscribed
under ourbinfamous law 2106,
which has been overturned once,
but reinstated by the Fifth Cir-
cuit. In most civilized places, sex-
ual conduct between consentingpay raise.
But there's one thing that nags
at me and I can't let it go. Just a
few weeks before the election,
the members of the United
States Senate, who all want this
pay raise even though the great
majority of them are millionaires
and multi-millionaires, got to
vote on a proposal to increase the
minimum wage. The minimum
wage in this country is '$3.35 an
hour: If you work fulltime all
year without taking any vacation,
you can make $6,968 a year on
the minimum wage, which is be-
low the poverty level. The last
time Congress got a pay raise was
in February 1987. The last time
the minimum wage was raised
was more than eight years ago.
But the members of that ex-
clusive club of white male mil-
lionaires we call the U.S. Senate
just could not bring themselves
to vote for an increase in the
minimum wage; no, the majority
of our senators considered care-
fully and decided that millions of
Americans ought to be able to
get along on $6,968 a year. Is
there any way to limit this pay
increase to the House of Repre-
sentatives? Because I'd like to
say to the Senate: S.... you, Jack,
and the horse you rode in on.adults is not considered fit fodder
for the legal system. As long as
sexual behavior is private,
doesn't frighten the horses or in-
volve minors, why should it be
any of anyone else's business,
much less the law's? The days
when lawmakers felt entitled to
criminalize everything except the
missionary position are long
gone.
On the matter of congressional
pay raises, I am seized with the
spirit of Scrooge. Normally, I'd
say it was a good deal to give
congressman a raise, even up to
$135K, since they all have to
maintain two homes: especially
since the raise is in exchange for
getting them off the corporate
teat by outlawing the fees they
get for speaking to special inter-
est groups. As of now, congress-
men can easily pick up between
$2,000 and $5,000 just for saying
a few words at a business con-
vention, or even walking through
a trade show. Anyone who thinks
the "speaking fee" doesn't buy at
least access to the congressper-
son who gets it needs to be sent
to the sheltered workshop. So
now they're offering us this deal
whereby they'll cut out the
speaking fees if we give them aI
oruay, Lecember I Z, 1988 A-25
I
Siundia Dlrnno o .
1234 S
v r
ow
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Dallas Times Herald. [Dallas Times Herald clipping: Make sure to check with the judge before you kill anybody], clipping, December 18, 1988; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc916802/m1/1/: accessed June 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.