via The Denver Channel:
Allen Andrade, 32, is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison. Sentencing will occur at 4 p.m. He was also found guilty of aggravated motor vehicle theft and identity theft.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours before reaching the verdict Wednesday afternoon.

This was the first case in the country where a hate-crime statute has been used in the death of a transgender person. Colorado is one of the few states with a hate-crime law that covers transgender people. Zapata’s death has sparked calls for a national hate-crimes law.

During the trial, prosecutors painted Andrade as a cold, cruel person who hated homosexuals.

They played taped conversations he had in jail with two of his girlfriends. In those conversations, Andrade downplayed the slaying, saying it wasn’t like he “killed a straight, law-abiding citizen” and referring to Zapata as an “it.”

Andrade has not denied beating Zapata, but his lawyers argue he snapped after discovering she was biologically a man and that the killing was not planned, but an act of passion stirred from deception.

Prosecutors argued Andrade knew for 36 hours that Zapata was biologically male. They argued in court that Andrade went to traffic court with Zapata and saw that when the clerk called out for “Justin Zapata,” Angie Zapata stood up.

Prosecutors said Andrade beat Zapata to death with a fire extinguisher out of his dislike for homosexuals. Prosecutors allege Andrade may have been confused by his own sexuality, or was experimenting — even visiting a bisexual chat room in the social networking site MocoSpace. Andrade and Zapata met through MocoSpace.

“Angie Zapata died because of who she was,” said Prosecutor Robb Miller in his closing arguments Wednesday morning. “This is not a ‘who done it.’”

Judge Marcelo Kopcow told the jury Wednesday morning that the burden of proof is on the prosecution. He said if prosecutors have failed to prove all the elements of premeditated murder, jurors could find the defendant guilty of a lesser crime such as murder in the second degree, manslaughter or negligent homicide.

Jurors must decide if the defendant was acting in a sudden heat of passion or if the killing was planned, Kopcow said.

Miller argued that the slaying is not a lesser offense or a result of reckless manslaughter. He said reckless is a car accident.

“This is much more than reckless. His intent is seen at the crime scene. His intent is heard in the jail calls… Hitting someone time after time in the forehead with a fire extinguisher shows exactly what the intent was… it was nothing less than first-degree murder,” Miller said.

Miller said this was not “heat of passion” because a reasonable person in that situation would have left. If Andrade was so repulsed by Zapata, why would he stay at her house for 12 hours, or take her car — it would have been a constant reminder, Miller said.

What is clear, Miller said, is that the defendant had more than enough time to do what a reasonable person would have done — walk away.

“This man thought of Angie as less than any of us. Everyone deserves equal protection under the law and no one deserves to die like this. Find him guilty of all the counts,” Miller said.

Inside the house, officers found “Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder” by radio talk show host Michael Savage, “Let Freedom Ring” by talk show host Sean Hannity, and “The O’Reilly Factor,” by television talk show host Bill O’Reilly.

The shotgun-wielding suspect in Sunday’s mass shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church was motivated by a hatred of “the liberal movement,” and he planned to shoot until police shot him, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said this morning.

Adkisson, 58, of Powell wrote a four-page letter in which he stated his “hatred of the liberal movement,” Owen said. “Liberals in general, as well as gays.”

Surprised?

olice found right-wing political books, brass knuckles, empty shotgun shell boxes and a handgun in the Powell home of a man who said he attacked a church in order to kill liberals “who are ruining the country,” court records show.

[...]

Adkisson targeted the church, Still wrote in the document obtained by WBIR-TV, Channel 10, “because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that he felt that the Democrats had tied his country’s hands in the war on terror and they had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets.”

Adkisson told Still that “he could not get to the leaders of the liberal movement that he would then target those that had voted them in to office.”

Adkisson told officers he left the house unlocked for them because “he expected to be killed during the assault.”

Inside the house, officers found “Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder” by radio talk show host Michael Savage, “Let Freedom Ring” by talk show host Sean Hannity, and “The O’Reilly Factor,” by television talk show host Bill O’Reilly.

The shotgun-wielding suspect in Sunday’s mass shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church was motivated by a hatred of “the liberal movement,” and he planned to shoot until police shot him, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said this morning.

]]> http://blog.gayrightswatch.com/2008/07/update-tennessee-church-killer-has-great-role-models/feed/ 0