Oct 24, 2003  |  By: JOE CREA  | COMMENTS     

Some gay rights advocates were disappointed to learn that a federal jury acquitted a Howard University student charged with sending an e-mail threatening to commit “a hate crime” against a fellow student because he is gay and part Asian. Critics of the decision charge that the evidence presented in court was compelling and questioned whether prosecutors did an adequate job.

“Some juries are reluctant to convict on threats an individual never carried out but this man was not accused of ‘assault,’ he was accused of ‘threats,’ “ said Rick Rosendall, vice president for political affairs and former president of the D.C.-based Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA). “Given the facts of this case, it does raise suspicions that the jurors set aside the facts and laws and voted in accordance to their own prejudices.

Some of us here have wondered whether the prosecution did a good enough job during the jury selection process because the evidence appears to be very clear-cut. For the jury to disregard that makes me wonder.”

Last week, a jury for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found Gerald Thaddeus McMurray not guilty on charges of sending an interstate transmission of a threat to graduate student Lethan Wilks and threatening to injure Wilks, who is African American and Korean, because of his “actual or perceived” sexual orientation and race.

Prosecutors asserted in a court motion that McMurray used “crude and offensive” language to denounce Wilks in three e-mail messages sent between November 2000 and January 2001. McMurray, using a screen name of “Joe Rock,” allegedly made the threat against Wilks in the third message, which was sent Jan. 19, 2001 in which he called McMurray a “Chinese wannabe black faggot,” adding that “I hate you I going [sic] to commit a hate crime and fuck over you. You Gay motherfuckers make me sick.”

Prosecutors in the case were unable to comment on the jury selection process and transcripts of the jury selection process were not available by press time.

Jurors in the case could not be contacted. According to a District Court spokesperson, jurors were free to comment immediately after the trial concluded but out of respect for their privacy and the standard practice of Judge Rosemary Collyer’s court, jurors’ names would not be released.

The federal jury’s decision has been roundly criticized. D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams told the Blade that he is “disappointed” by the acquittal and said that discrimination and intimidation on the basis of sexual orientation is “deplorable.”

A spokesperson for the local gay Asian group, Asian/Pacific Islanders Queers United for Action (AQUA) extended “sympathy and support” to Wilks and said despite the outcome of the trial, group members “hope that this predicament can serve as a rallying call for all of us to work to create a more welcoming and open society.”

And Sterling Washington, president emeritus of the Bisexual, Lesbian & Gay Organization of Students at Howard (BLAGOSAH) said he too was disappointed and said that the acquittal was “probably due to a lack of preparedness on the prosecution.”

“It’s hard to believe that a jury, if presented with all of this evidence, would come to this conclusion,” Washington said. “[McMurray] intended to commit a hate crime. ‘Disappointment’ is an understatement.”

Delay may have hurt case
BLAGOSAH was not a co-plaintiff in the case because Wilks refused to meet with campus police early on in the investigation, Washington said. He added that jurors might have weighed the fact that Wilks was not “as forthcoming with information when the investigation commenced.”

“[Wilks] had meetings scheduled with campus police and he refused, on more than one occasion, to meet with them,” Washington said. “He thought the meeting was too early or just didn’t want to meet with them. The timing aspect may have affected his case.”

Wilks said that campus police did not cooperate with him and failed to keep him safe. Wilks added that Howard police refused to initially cooperate with the FBI and that was the reason it took so long for his case to go to trial.

“That’s just wrong and I feel that my rights as a student were violated,” Wilks said. “I’ve had bottles thrown at me by different fraternity members and I was violated not just as a student but as a human being.”

Howard University officials have not responded to multiple Blade inquiries about the case.

McMurray was indicted on Feb. 28 and faced a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison. According to D.C.’s hate crimes statute, he also could have received a sentence one-and-a-half-times ...