Paul Howard's Gay Panic Defense Is a Reprehensible Defense

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In 1998, in Laramie, Wyoming, a cyclist saw what he thought was a scarecrow. It turned out to be University of Wyoming freshman Matthew Shepard. One of the defendant's attorneys attempted to use gay panic as part of their defense. Paul Howard: "I think it's a reprehensible defense"

In 1995, two men filmed an episode of the daytime talk show, The Jenny Jones Show. A few days later, one of the men was dead. The shooter later claimed he’d committed the murder “in a panic that he was being falsely accused or identified as a gay person.”

We speak with Cynthia Lee, Carsten Andresen, and Paul Howard about so-called “gay panic” and “trans panic” defenses, and we discuss the murders of Scott Amedure, Islan Nettles, Larry King, Ahmed Dabarran, and Matthew Shepard.

Thanks to Thomas Curry, who helped co-produce this episode.

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