So it was nice to see even in Wisconsin Joe Schmoes can’t use the “gay panic” defense to kill gays. What is shameful are attorneys still trying to use this as a form of defense.
(Full Story Oshkosh, Wisconsin) A jury has ignored claims that a Wisconsin man was murdered in a case of “gay rage” and ruled that Gary Hirte, 19 was sane when he killed Glen Kopitske in July 2003….
He said Hirte had been drinking at home and went to a boat landing and sat on the hood of his car. Kopitske approached and invited Hirte to his house.
The men had oral sex and Hirte left and returned to his car. A few hours later he drove off in what his lawyer Gerald Boyle described as an “unbelievable rage”, got a shotgun and knife, returned to the house and killed Kopitske…
If the jury had found Hirte insane he would have been sent to a mental institution, where he could petition every six months for release. It’s just a shame they don’t offer the death penalty in Wisconsin. Me thinks he’d make a great candidate? What say you?