Devontavius McClain, pictured above in two photographs released by Griffin, GA, police after he was reported missing. The man convicted for his murder, Marquavyian Gude, claimed self defense after he said McClain made a sexual overture toward him.
On Wednesday, a Fulton County, GA, jury returned a guilty verdict against Marquavyian Gude, 19, of Atlanta, for the 2013 murder of 19-year-old Devontavius McClain of Griffin, GA. Gude was sentenced to life plus five years in prison.
Gude admitted to police that he shot McClain, but claimed he did so in self-defense after McClade made a pass at him. Gude said he had met McClain online and agreed to meet in-person, saying he believed he was meeting a female for sex.
McClain left the home he shared with his mother and sister in Griffin on April 20, 2013, saying he was going to a friend's house. He was never seen alive by his family or friends again. McClain's family reported him missing, but said local police did not take the case seriously, believing McClain had simply run away.
Nearly two months later on June 14th, police officers discovered a badly decomposed body in the trunk of an abandoned car in Atlanta. Due to the condition of the body, the police initially had difficulty making an identification. However, they finally identified the body as belonging to McClain after noting a still-visible tattoo on one arm. The tattoo was of the names of McClain's mother and sister.
McClain had been shot in the head.
In the homicide investigation, police used McClain's cellphone records to connect him with Gude. Following that lead, they discovered Gude was seen driving around in McClain's car, and attempted to use McClain's debit card to make a purchase.
Gude was contacted at Fulton County Jail where he was being held on unrelated charges. It was there, in an interview with detectives, he admitted shooting McClain and claimed self-defense.
However, Gude could not explain why he didn't leave as soon as he discovered McClain was a male, and instead rode around town with him for several hours before murdering him.
The so-called "gay panic defense" gained notoriety in the trial of Aaron McKinney, one of two men charged with the murder of 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998. McKinney was found guilty of Shepard's murder and was sentenced to two life sentences after Shepard's family intervened to keep McKinney off Wyoming's death row.
In the wake of Shepard's death, many efforts were made to expand hate crime legislation to apply to crimes based on sexual orientation. A year after Shepard's death, a measure failed to pass in Wyoming, with a 30-30 tie vote in the state's house of representatives. President Bill Clinton asked for federal legislation to expand hate crimes to cover sexual orientation in 1999, but it failed in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 2000, a bill passed both chambers of congress, but was killed in conference committee.
In March 2007, the House passed the Matthew Shepard Act, a federal law that would extend hate crimes to cover crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation, with similar legislation passing the Senate. However, President George W. Bush threatened to veto the bill. Democratic leaders shelved the bill for fear of Bush's veto, and because it was attached to a defense bill opposed by some key Democrats.
In 2009, the House and Senate passed H.R.1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, allowing the U.S. Department of Justice to provide assistance to local police in the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes, including those based on sexual orientation. That bill was signed into law by President Obama in October, 2009.
Nationwide, 15 states and the District of Columbia have hate crimes laws that cover crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Another 15 states have laws that only cover sexual orientation. Fourteen states have enacted hate crimes legislation, but that legislation does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity.
Six states have no hate crime laws. Georgia and Wyoming are two of them.
8:19 PM PT: Diary edited to reflect that President Obama signed H.R. 1913 in October, 2009. As pointed out by AllenMcw below, I forgot to mention that important detail in an earlier revision.