Finding: Anti-Gay Bias Crime

After two days of witness testimony related to the murder of Private First Class (PFC) Barry Winchell, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) today has concluded that, if the evidence presented at the hearing is true, anti-gay bias was one factor in PFC Winchell's murder. The Article 32 hearing for Private (PVT) Calvin Glover, who faces the charge of premeditated murder in the death of PFC Winchell, ended yesterday after closing statements were made by the prosecution and PVT Glover's defense counsel.

C. Dixon Osburn, SLDN Co-Executive Director, stated, "The evidence we have heard, if true, strongly indicates that PVT Glover was at the least in part motivated to murder PFC Winchell because he perceived that PFC Winchell was gay." Osburn added, "We have reached this conclusion based on testimony that PVT Glover hated "faggots;" an NBC News report that he was allegedly taunted about "letting a faggot beat him up" two days before the murder; the prosecution's closing argument that Glover allegedly said, "I"m not going to let a faggot kick my ass," shortly before PFC Winchell was murdered; and testimony by soldiers that PFC Winchell faced daily anti-gay harassment for at least four months prior to his murder."

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