Subject: NGLTF PRESS: HIV Status Admitted in Murder Trial
From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 1995 16:06:46 -0500

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National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
NEWS RELEASE

Contact:  Robin Kane         (202) 332-6483 ext. 3311
                                         (800) 757-7736 pager
               Beth Barrett      (202) 332-6483 ext. 3215

2320 17th Street NW   Washington, DC   20009
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HIV STATUS ADMITTED IN MURDER TRIAL

NGLTF Calls Judge's Decision "Reprehensible"

Washington, D.C. --  February 9, 1995 -- Jurors in the murder case of two gay
men learned the HIV status of both victims today.  Despite legal arguments
against disclosure, Circuit Court Judge Billy Landrum today allowed the
defense to release the HIV status of Robert Walters and Joseph Shoemake.  The
bodies of the two men were discovered near a railroad track outside of
Laurel, Mississippi in early October 1994.

 At that time, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) claimed "no
confidence" in the local authorities due to a history of homophobia on the
part of the Jones County Sheriff's Department.  NGLTF immediately called upon
Attorney General Janet Reno to conduct a federal investigation.  The Attorney
General's office responded that it would be unable to act because there is no
criminal civil rights law providing protection on the basis of sexual
orientation.

 "Today is a sad day for the civil rights of people with AIDS," said Beth
Barrett, NGLTF spokesperson.  "The trial of two gay men, brutally murdered in
Laurel, Mississippi, has taken a turn for the worse.  The judge's decision to
divulge the HIV status of Robert Walters and Joseph Shoemake to the jury is
reprehensible.  This is clearly an attempt to play on society's fear of
people with AIDS.  HIV status is never an excuse for murder."

 "That the bodies of two murdered men were subjected to posthumous HIV
testing is unthinkable.  That their HIV status has now been released to the
jury is inexcusable," Barrett added. "The prosecution and the defense in this
case should avoid legal strategies that play upon the societal fears and
prejudices of racism, homophobia and AIDS- phobia.  It is our hope that the
jury will see past this ploy when deliberating the facts of this heinous
crime."