9-28-00 APB News ARIZONA:

A convicted double murderer on death row claims he deserves a new trial because the judge in his case was prejudiced against homosexuals.

The judge allegedly called his own AIDS-stricken son a "damn faggot" and wrote him a letter that said:
"I hope you die in prison like all the rest of your faggot friends," court papers say.

In court papers filed last week, an attorney for convicted killer Gregory Scott Dickens called for a new trial because the judge allegedly was biased in the original 1992 proceedings. But a state prosecutor
contends that Yuma County Judge Tom Cole's views are irrelevant because
he did nothing wrong.

Felony-murder rule

In 1991, Gregory Scott Dickens helped his 16-year-old boyfriend shoot and kill a newlywed young couple at a rest stop in Yuma, a desert town on the Arizona-California border. Dickens' boyfriend, Travis Amaral, was convicted of lesser charges in return for his cooperation with the prosecution.

Dickens, who was 26 at the time of the killings, was convicted in 1992 under Arizona's felony-murder rule. The law allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty against accomplices of killers in some cases. Even though a defendant may not have pulled the trigger, he or she may be held to the same punishment as the killer.

Cole sentenced Dickens to death in 1992. Under Arizona law, Dickens will receive a lethal injection.

Attorney: 'Vitriol toward homosexuals'

In court papers filed last week, recently hired attorney Daphne Budge claimed that Cole showed himself to be virulently homophobic in letters to his son, Scott, who was imprisoned on theft and fraudulent check- cashing charges. The letters were written in 1992 or thereabouts, according to the court papers.

Cole said he believed a gay friend had led his son into a life of deviancy and crime, the court papers alleged.

"Prior to Scott's coming out, Judge Cole's homophobia was latent," Budge contends in court papers. "His son's sexual orientation, however, simply forced Judge Cole out of the closet. His homophobia became manifest. Whether directed at Scott, at Mr. Dickens, or others, Judge Cole's words demonstrate far more than a family squabble. They demonstrate Judge Cole's vitriol toward homosexuals."

In addition, a former lover of Scott Cole claims in court papers that, prior to his prison term, Cole had bruises on his face that he blamed on his father. The judge's son later died of complications from AIDS.

Judge Cole declined to comment, saying he could not discuss a pending case.

State vows to fight appeal

In the court papers, Budge said Dickens denied playing a role in the killings. The papers allege that Amaral wrongly implicated Dickens.

The state of Arizona will fight the appeal, said Joe Maziarz, an assistant attorney general. At a previous hearing for Dickens, another judge rejected the allegations against Judge Cole.

"The case law is pretty well settled," Maziarz said. "Whatever the personal feelings of judges are about topics or issues," he said, the rulings of judges cannot be overturned due to bias unless wrongdoing is
shown.

"Judges obviously have feelings about everything, but they're presumed able to put those aside," Maziarz said.

Gregory Scott Dickens was 26 when he was charged with killing a couple outside Yuma, Arizona. He had been traveling with a 16-year-old who, according to Dickens's current attorney, was the most important person in his life. The youth admitted to firing the gun, but he testified that Dickens had given him the weapon and put him up to the crime. When the defense moved to present evidence that this teen fit the profile of a violent and impulsive liar, Judge Tom Cole intervened. If the defense took that route, said the judge, he might allow the prosecutor to raise an issue that had been kept from the jury: Dickens and his young friend  were lovers.  Then the nature of Dickens's 2 previous convictions-for fondling minors-might also come out. "The state could say that in this homosexual relationship, the older partner had control over the kid," says Dickens's current attorney. So the defense backed down.

This time it wasn't the prosecutor's tactics but the judge's behavior that figured in the appeal. Court papers filed on Dickens's behalf claim that Judge Cole had reacted with rage to his own son's homosexuality. He had written a letter expressing the hope that his son would "die in prison like
all the rest of your faggot friends." Cole denies writing the letter, but he would not comment on the allegation that he believes his son was turned gay by unscrupulous friends. "It's insignificant," Cole says.

But the defense contends that such an attitude could have induced Cole to allow homosexuality into the
trial-especially when the accused might appear to be a sexual predator. In Arizona, the judge decides when a killer should be sentenced to death, and though Dickens was acquitted of premeditated murder, Cole found other grounds to condemn him. Dickens had committed a multiple murder that resulted in pecuniary gain. But so had his young friend, whose life was spared.

Assume that all these defendants are guilty. Grant that their sexuality may have some relevance to the case. The question, then, is not whether the subject should have come up but how it was used. Homosexuality was seen as a marker of perversion or pathology, the sign of a murderous bent. In these cases, the pretense of tolerance is ripped away, and one can see monsters from the homophobic id.
But one can also recognize the biases that underlie ordinary life.

"Anyone can end up in court," notes Ruth E. Harlow, legal director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. "And any time a gay man or lesbian goes into court, they have to be afraid that sexual orientation may play a role in their case." It might come up in family court, when the judge assumes a gay parent would expose a child to sexual activity. It could influence a prosecutor's decision about
who gets to plea bargain and who must stand trial. It could even determine who is charged with a crime in the 1st place. "We tend to think of gay people as crime victims, not prisoners," says Bill Dobbs of Queer Watch. "But in fact, the criminal justice system touches us in many ways."

For complete article visit:  http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0111/goldstein.shtml 

Excerpt from:  http://www.thegully.com/essays/america/010115death_penalty.html

This Arizona Death Row prisoner has never written to the CCADP requesting correspondence through our site.   However, due to Arizona's attempt to censor websites of prisoner advocacy groups like ours, we have committed to ensuring all Arizona Death Row prisoners have a voice on the internet and the opportunity to be contacted by human rights groups and activists.  Let Arizona's condemned prisoners know they have not been forgotten, with your words of encouragement and support.   Please write to:

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