Despite being an outlawed defence tactic in Australia and the US states of California and Illinois, a Texan man was released on probation last week after using "gay panic" to explain why he killed his neighbour in 2015.
A jury found James Miller not guilty of manslaughter after he claimed his neighbour Daniel Spencer tried to kiss him after a night of drinking. Instead, Miller was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to 10 years of probation.
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"We were playing back and forth and everything, and I just let him know - hey, I'm not gay," Miller, 69, said during the trial.
"We been playing. We're musicians and all that kind of stuff, but I'm not a gay guy. Then it seemed like everything was all right, and everything was fine. When I got ready to go - it seemed like [expletive] just started happening." Reports .
Miller later turned himself in at a police station a few hours later, saying: "I think I killed someone. . . . I stabbed him."
Miller's defence attorney claimed the stabbing attack was uncharacteristic of Mr. Miller, which meant it "clearly had to be an act of self-defence."
“We don’t know exactly what did happen in that house that night,” Prosecutor Matthew Foye following the verdict.
“So that can be something that can be very difficult for juries to work through.”
Source: Austin Police Department
Marsha Spencer, the victim's mother, told the jury she had a "huge hole" in her heart.
"Something’s wrong in the world when you lose your child before you go,” she said.
“I’m tortured by the thought of how Daniel died and I’m tortured by the fact that he suffered and that he was alone when he died. It’s a loss that cuts deeply."
The American Bar Association has that all other US states outlaw gay panic defense.
