How does a defendants sexual orientation affect a capital trial?
• “Sending a homosexual to the penitentiary certainly isn’t a very bad punishment for a homosexual,” the prosecutor told the jury in the sentencing phase of Calvin Burdine’s trial. Burdine’s attorney did not object. Burdine, a homosexual, was on trial for killing his lover. Burdine’s attorney was seen sleeping during parts of the trial and referred to homosexuals as “fairies” and “queers.” • Gay defendants have their sexuality used to portray them as “inhuman” and “predatory.” Dick Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center explains, “There’s no legal formula for who gets the death penalty. And anyone who seems outside the bounds of what’s acceptable is more likely to end up being executed.
