the tickle defense
Get a load of this. Anthony Fortunato and a bunch of other guys ambush a homosexual and eventually chase him into the path of an oncoming car, which strikes and kills him. This was a clear-cut hate crime. Fortunato and friends specifically sought out a “gay guy” to victimize from an online chat room.
Fortunato is trying to prove that it wasn’t a hate crime. How? By mentioning that he might be, you know, gay, too. Sort of. Maybe. As he puts it: “I could be homosexual. A homosexual. Bisexual.”
The logic here is absurd. Fortunato claiming that his own potential homosexuality exempts him from committing a gay hate crime makes about as much sense as saying that it wasn’t assault because you can’t tickle yourself.
I dub this madness “The Tickle Defense.” Luckily, it looks like the jury and judges aren’t buying it.
As someone who spent the entirety of 8th grade enduring the verbal abuse of a classmate who was clearly troubled by his own unwanted homosexual thoughts… well, let’s just be polite and leave it at “I have no sympathy.”
The defense failed, so I still have faith in the jury system.