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Join us to
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H 9V <£ A 9D S
S a fer Sex
C om m unity
P ro tectio n
Sex w ith men
Teenager convicted
in slayings
,
Setting a precedent a Mississippi judge allows victims9
HIV status admitted in trial
by Richard Shumate
tion.
teenager who admitted shooting two
The ensuing media firestorm angered not only
gay men to death last October has
the county’s residents, but also the friends and
been convicted of murder charges by
families of the victims, who insisted they were
a Mississippi jury.
satisfied with the police investigation.
Marvin McClendon, 16, claimed
Though a grand jury refused to indict
he shot Robert Walters and Joseph Shoemake in
McClendon on robbery charges, Jones County
self-defense after they made sexual advances to
District Attorney Jeannene Pacific told the jury
ward him. During the trial, Jones County Circuit
that M cClendon
Court Judge Billy
went willingly with
Landrum allowed
“This
is
clearly
an
attempt
to
play
the men after meet
the defense to bol
ing them in down
ster that claim by
on society's fear o f people with
town Laurel and stole
adm itting the
AIDS.
HIV
status
is
never
an
excuse
$100 from the vic
results of HIV
tests performed for murder, ” said Beth Barrett o f the tims after the mur
ders. M cClendon
on the victims.
National
Gay
and
Lesbian
Task
then w ent to a
But it took the
friend’s house to play
jury ju st five
Force, which called the judge's
cards, and admitted
hours to reject the
decision
“reprehensible.
”
that he had killed
self-defense ar
“two white guys,”
gument and find
Pacific
said.
(The
victims
were
white; McClendon
McClendon guilty of two counts of murder on
is an African American.)
Feb. 9.
But McClendon’s attorney, J. Ronald Parrish,
Landrum sentenced McClendon to two con
called Walters and Shoemake “sexual predators”
secutive life terms. Prosecutors did not seek the
who were on the prowl the night they were killed.
death penalty.
He contended that after they picked up McClendon,
On Oct. 7, 1994, Walters, 34, and Shoemake,
they
drove to a remote area and attempted to rape
24, left a house party in Laurel together and never
him.
returned. Their bodies were found the next day
Arguing that an attempted rape committed by
along an abandoned railroad track. Both men had
an HIV-positive person would amount to pointing
been shot in the head.
“a loaded gun” and justify a claim of self-defense,
McClendon was arrested five days after the
Parrish asked Judge Landrum in December to
murders and confessed to the crimes. Local police
order
HIV tests on the victims. The judge agreed,
officials insisted his motive was robbery and re
sparking objections from prosecutors and protests
fused to investigate the murders as possible orien
from HIV-advocacy groups.
tation-related hate crimes.
Landrum allowed those results to be admitted
The murders took place in the same county as
in the trial.
Camp Sister Spirit, a lesbian run feminist retreat
“This is clearly an attempt to play on society’s
that has been repeatedly harassed by its neighbors.
fear of people with AIDS. HIV status is never an
The women at Sister Spirit contend that local law
excuse for murder,” said Beth Barrett of the Na
enforcement authorities have been indifferent to
tional Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which called
their complaints. Given that history, activists de
the judge’s decision “reprehensible.”
scended on Laurel to demand an outside investiga-
• A safe place to talk.
Call 223-6339
ext,135
to speak to André
ambenti
= < > w
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