July 20, 2024 • 19 mins
On the night of October 3, 2002, Gwen Amber Rose Araujo, a transgender teen from California attended a party at a home rented by Jose and Paul Merel. Michael Magidson, Jason Nabors, Jason Cazares, Emmanuel Merel, and Nicole Brown were all present at the party. Upon learning that Gwen was biologically born a male, the men became irate that they had engaged in sexual acts with her previously. This led to a brutal attack on Gwen which ultimately caused her death. Gwen's case paved the way for important legislation being passed in California which aims to eradicate the use of the gay/trans panic defense in court cases.
Sources The San Francisco Standard (2022) Wikipedia Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (2003)SF Gate (2003)SF Gate (2005)SF Gate (2005)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dark-deeds--6216218/support.
Sources The San Francisco Standard (2022) Wikipedia Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (2003)SF Gate (2003)SF Gate (2005)SF Gate (2005)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dark-deeds--6216218/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello listeners, and welcome back toanother episode of its Crime Time. On
this episode, I will be tellingthe story of Gwen amber Rose Arajo,
a transgender team who was murdered byfour men claiming she deceived them about her
gender. All right, everyone,it's crime Time. Gwen amber Rose Arajo
(00:37):
was born Edward row Junior in Brawley, California, on February TEWOD, nineteen
eighty five, two parents, EdwardRajo and Sylvia Guerrero. When Gwen was
just ten months old, her parentsdivorced in nineteen ninety nine. Gwen came
out as transgender at the age offourteen. She chose the name Gwen after
her favorite musician, Gwen Stefani.At one point, she also went by
(00:59):
Wendy and Lee. She started togrow her hair long and had planned to
hormone treatments and ab surgeries to completeher transition. Gwen's mother remembers the moment
her daughter had set her down forheart talk about her gender identity. She
told her mother, I don't feellike a boy. I feel like a
freak end a quote. Her mothersaid they both cried a lot that night,
but she did tell her that shewould support her transition. Her mother
(01:21):
stated in a documentary titled Trained inthe Ways of Men that she prayed for
a baby girl when she was pregnant, and she was going to name her
baby girl amber Rose, if,of course, she had been pregnant with
a girl. Her older sister,Pearl Sonserri, said that she did not
comprehend what Gwen was going through atthe time. Quote the first time I
(01:41):
saw makeup smeared, I was yelling, what's wrong with you? I didn't
understand. I never heard of theword transgender until she died end quote.
Her older sister said that Gwen hadbeen bullied in junior high school because of
her voice. Eventually, Gwenn transferredto an alternative high school, but she
did not return for the two thousandand two thousand and three academic yere Gwen
(02:02):
first met twenty two year old MichaelMaggotson and his friend's twenty two year old
Jose Morel, nineteen year old JasonNabors, and twenty two year old Jason
Cazerrez in late August or early Septemberof two thousand and two. Apparently the
night she met all of them,they smoke marijuana together and all kind of
flirted with Gwen. She flirted withthem back, and after Gwen left,
(02:25):
Nabores apparently asked the other three men, could this be a dude? So
when they had met Gwen, however, she went by the name Leita,
so they knew her as Leda.The reason the men say they assumed Gwen
was not biologically a female is becauseshe would not allow them to touch her
(02:46):
genitals when any of them engaged ina sexual acts with her. On October
third, in two thousand and two, Gwen attended a party at jose Morel's
house. This house was shared withhis younger brother Manny and older brother Paul.
Paul had also previously engaged in sexualacts with Gwen. Becauzarez and Nobors
(03:06):
were at the house, as wellas Paul's girlfriend, Nicole Brown. After
partying all night, during the earlymorning hours of October fourth, the men
started to question Gwen to ask ifshe was biologically male. Nicole Brown grabbed
Gwen's crotch during a confrontation they hadin the bathroom and revealed to everyone that
Gwen had male genitalium. At thispoint, the men became enraged over this.
(03:29):
Maggotson and had punched Gwen. Jose, who had been crying and allegedly
vomiting in anguish that he had sexwith the male, then struck Gwen with
a frying pan and a can offood after Maggotson had punched her in the
face knocked her to the ground.Maggotson also had put her in a choke
hold and was kind of pulling onher skirts to get her to reveal her
(03:49):
genitals. Nicole attempted to comfort Jose, saying, quote, it's not your
fault. I went to high schoolwith you, and you were on the
football team. Any woman that knowsyou after this, it's not going to
matter. Just let her go endquote. The last words Jose heard Gwen
speak were I told you I wassorry. Jose's brother, Manny or Emanuel,
(04:10):
testified that he attempted to get Gwenout of the house, but the
other men stopped him. Nicole,Brown, Palmrel, and Manny Morel left
the house while Gwen was still bleedingin the living room. Naboras and Ghazarez
left in Maggotson's truck to retrieve shovelsand a pickaxe from Kazarres' house. They
left the other men at the homewith Quent. When they left, the
(04:31):
other men had apparently been saying thatthey were going to quote kill that bitch
end quote. Upon the men's returnto the home, Gwen had still been
conscious, but was bleeding from ahead wound received by the can of food
because the can of food had kindof created this large cash on her head.
She had also been sitting on thecouch, and Jose had been concerned
(04:54):
that Gwen was bleeding on his couchand ordered her to get off of it.
At some point the assaulta and Gwenwas and the boor's and Gazarez urged
the others to quote knock the bitchout end quote. Maggidson's assault had been
so severe that I left a dentin the wall and had cracked the plaster.
Maggotson struck Gwen so hard with hisknee in the head that Gwen hit
(05:15):
the wall and then fell unconscious.Kazaras then kicked her. Jose attempted to
clean Gwen's blood off of his couchand carpet before retreating to his room so
the others could not see him crying. Maggotson bound Gwen's wrists and ankles wrapped
her in a comforter to minimize theamount of blood staying in the carpet,
and carried her to the garage ofthe home. At this point, the
(05:36):
defendant's testimonies had differed. Niboris testsifiedthat Maggotson strangled Gqwenn with the rope and
Kazaraz struck her with a shovel,and Bors was returning from the garage and
says he did not actually witness theincident. He said he saw Maggotson raising
the rope to Gwen's neck before heleft the garage. Maggotson seated it was
Nibors who actually strangled Gwenn and thehead struck her with the shovel. Kazara
(05:59):
says he never struck her and itdid not witness her die. Jose testified
he was busy cleaning Gwen's blood offthe couch and carpets as Maggotson was binding
her ankles. Jose said he thoughtshe was still alive until he saw her
body in the bed of Maggotson's truck. It isn't clear at which point Gwen
died, but the autopsy revealed thatshe died from strangulation associated with blood forced
(06:19):
trauma to the head. Nobor statedthat Maggotson wasn't sure if she was dead
after strangling her, but once Jasonhit her twice with the shovel, he
knew she was dead. Maggotson,Jose and Noboras drove four hours to the
Silver Forks campground in El Dorado NationalForest to dispose of Gwen's body, which
(06:41):
had been in the bed of Maggotson'spickup truck. She was buried in a
shallow grave. The boys then droveto McDonald's, went through the drive through,
and brought and bought breakfast. Sothis struck me as very weird and
disgusting that they did all of thishorrendous stuff and then could just eat breakfast
and McDonald's like nothing happened. Nicolehad called Jose then to ask what they
(07:02):
did to Gwen? What had happenedto Gwen after she had left, and
he replied, quote, let's justsay she had a long walk home end
quote. The next day, onOctober fifth, Gwen's mom reported her missing.
Police initially did not take the caseseriously, partly because she was transgender,
and also because Gwen was known tostay away from home. Over night
(07:23):
partying at times. Rumors eventually reachedGwen's family that she had been outed as
transgender at a party and had beenkilled and buried in Tahoe. Gwen's aunt
called the police on October ninth topass this story to the police. Police
finally began to interview the partygoers,and one of them led police to the
home of Jose Morrel two days afterGwen was reported missing. A friend of
(07:46):
Jason Deporus described him as appearing verydistraught and acting kind of strange, and
he eventually had confessed to this friendwhat he and the four boys had done
shortly after returning from the side ofthe grave. The friend then tipped off
the police and agreed to wear amicrophone during another conversation with Nabors. When
a Bors was confronted with the recordingby police on October fifteenth, he then
(08:09):
agreed to take police to Gwen's body. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office had dispatched
four crime scene investigators and two detectivesto recover Gwen's body from the gravesite at
the campground. Initially Michael Maggotson,aged twenty two, Jason Debors, age
nineteen and Jose Morrel twenty two andof course, his brother Paul Morrell,
(08:31):
were arrested for Gwen's murder. Paulwas released after Emmanuel or Manny and Nicole
Brown told police he had left thescene with them. Maggotson, Nabors,
and Jose Morrel were officially charged withthe murders with the murder on October seventeenth,
and held without bail. On Octobertwenty fourth, Nabors pled not guilty.
(08:52):
Maggotson had still been searching for anattorney, and Jose was still reviewing
the evidence against him. Morell hadbeen confident and his charges would be dropped.
After being arrested, Nibors wrote aletter to his girlfriend in which he
stated that the boys had discussed asoprano's style plan to quote kill the bitch
and get rid of her body endquote. The letter was intercepted by sheriff's
(09:13):
officials, however, and led tothe arrest of Kazarres on November nineteenth.
Kazaras had been identified as a potentialwitness on October twenty second. Niboris pleaded
guilty on February twenty fourth, twothousand and three, to the lesser charge
of voluntary manslaughter, which carried onlyan eleven year prison sentence, along with
the promise to testify against the otherthree. Judge Kenneth Burr warned Nobors that
(09:37):
he could still be charged with murderif prosecutors had found he was not living
up to his end of the bargainby testifying. Of course, during the
indictment, Nabors gave a detailed accountof the murder and burial. As they
were burying her, the men continuedto disparge Gwen, and Niboris stated he
could not believe that someone would everdo that, would be that deceitful,
(09:58):
and Ose added he was so madhe could still kick her a couple more
times. So these men just seemedto have absolutely no remorse whatsoever. They
felt that the murder was justified becausethey say Gwen deceived them about her gender.
Nabores received an eleven year prison sentenceon August twenty fifth, two thousand
(10:20):
and six. With credit for timeserved, he was expected to only spend
five years in jail from this point. Alameda County Deputy a District Attorney Chris
Lamiro made a statement before Maggodson's firsttrial, quote, one can debate the
propriety of one choosing to identify witha gender other than the one they were
born with. But I trust juriesto understand that people don't get to make
(10:41):
life or death decisions simply based onsomeone's lifestyle. That's not a world in
which I want to live, wheremost people want to live in end quote.
Tori's selection for the trial of Maggotson, Jose Morel, and Cazarrez began
on March fifteenth, two thousand andfour. Jurors were asked if they knew
any lesbian, gay, bisexual,or transgender people, whether they knew any
(11:05):
recently married same sex couples, metany transgender people, or whether they had
seen a movie or theatrical performance depictingthe activities of a transgender person. The
defense attorneys explained that the last questionwas asked to prospective jurors and was more
specific, asking if they had seenPoisoned Cry or The Laramie Project. Those
who had not would be prompted towatch those films. The first trial began
(11:28):
on April fourteenth, two thousand andfour. Magazine's defense attorney argued he should
not be charged with murder, butmanslaughter at worse under California law. He
said his client was not biased,but was shot beyond reason to learn he
had unwittingly had sex with the man. This was a variant on the gay
Panic defense. Na Boris said hefelt his friends had been raped since Gwen
did not come clean with what hereally was quote. I feel like he
(11:48):
forced them into homosexual acts, andmy definition of rape was being forced into
sex end quote. He was thenasked how Gwen had forced them, and
he replied through deception. The firsttrial ended in a miss trial on June
twenty second, Following nine days ofdeliberations, tours were unable to reach a
unanimous decision for the three boys.The jury had agreed that Gwen had been
murdered, but they could not agreewhether it was premeditated or not. The
(12:11):
final votes were tended to in favorof acquitting Jose Morrel and Kazar as a
first degree murder, and seven tofive in favor of convicting Maggots in a
first degree murder. Although they hadbeen given the option of convicting the men
of second degree murder or manslaughter,they were unable to proceed past the first
degree murdered deliberations. The second trialbegan on May thirty first, two thousand
and five. The publicity received bytransgender activists had been the reason the public
(12:33):
had been informed about the tactics.The defense lawyers had adopted to blame Gwen
for her own death after the firsttrial it ended in mistrial. Gwen's mother
had been granted permission to change Gwen'sname posthumously, requiring defense lawyers to refer
to the victim with her preferred femalepronouns. Maggots and Morrel and Kazaras had
been charged with first degree murder withhate crime enhancements starting this trial. They
(12:54):
testified their second trial and blamed eachother as well as Nabor's Nobors testified that
Maggs admitted to strangling Gwen. Morelltestified that Nabors was responsible for the head
injuries of Gwen, but supported thatMaggotson had strangled her. Maggotson testified that
Nabors strangled Gwen. During maggots Intestimony, a tape of the initial interview
(13:15):
with police was shown in which theinvestigator was coaching him to use the trans
panic defense, stating quote, you'dbe surprised moms, especially moms, if
they knew the facts, you'd besurprised. End quote. This was a
very weird statement in the context ofeverything. But the way I took it
was maybe that he was trying toconvince maggots and that any moms when the
durrey would side with him because theywouldn't want their son to be gay or
(13:39):
wouldn't want their son to unwittingly engageand acts with the male. I'm not
sure how that statement was used orthought up. That it's a very weird
thing to tell a defendant. Duringclosing statements, Kauzarrez's defense lawyer argued that
the three defendants were ordinary human beingswho were guilty at most of manslaughter for
(14:03):
their role in the death in aclassic state of heat and passion. To
avoid another mistrial, prosecuting attorney Chrislamiiro or agued for first degree murder convictions,
but he gave the jurors the optionof a second degree murder conviction for
the three. He asked the juryto refer to return with first degree murder
convictions for Maggodson and Casaras, butpointed at Maggodsen as the main culprit who
had strangled quen, and he calledhim a poor excuse for a man with
(14:26):
a stupid and moronic list of excusesfor murdering her. On September eighth,
the jury had reached verdicts on twoof the three defendants, and then on
September twelfth, after a week ofdeliberation, the jury announced all of their
verdicts. The jury had been deadlockedon Kazaras, voting nine to three in
favor of convicting him for the murder. Maggotson and Jose Morrel were both convicted
(14:48):
on charges of second degree murder,but not convicted of the hate crime allegations.
Michael Maggodson and Jose Morrell were sentencedin January to fifteen years to life
in prison for the second degree murderof Gwen. Marel expressed deep sorrow and
regret to Gwen's family, but Maggotsonwas angry and expressed no remorse for his
role in the murder of Gwent.To avoid a third trial, Cuzaras pleaded
(15:11):
no contest to a manslaughter charge onDecember sixteenth, two thousand and five,
and was sent to six years inprison with credit for time already served.
Kazaras asked to begin serving a sentenceafter the birth of his third child,
which had been scheduled for March orApril of two thousand and six. This
was granted, and La Mairo notedit was difficult for him to entertain a
requests like that since Gwen is dead, and of course Gwen's mother had lost
(15:35):
a child, so you know,why should he get to be there for
the birth of his child. Butthis request nonetheless was granted. Gwen Rajo
was mourned in a public funeral atSaint Edward's Catholic Church in Newark on October
twenty fifth, two thousand and two. There were people at the funeral that
were picketing with signs, but Gwen'sfriends were angel wings to block the casket
(15:56):
from these signs. Although Gwen hadbeen cremated and her mother was given her
ashes and an urn, they stillchose to have the caskid everything like a
traditional funeral for anyone that wanted togo. After the murder of Gwen,
Transvision, a health and social servicesprogram for transgender people in Alameda County,
was founded on the first anniversary ofGwen's murder. Horizons Foundation created the Gwenorajo
(16:19):
Memorial Fund for Transgender Education. Thiswas to support school based programs in the
nine county Bay area that promoted theunderstanding of transgender people and issues through annual
grants. Sylvia Guerrero, Gwenn's mother, and her family spoke in middle of
high schools about transgender awareness and understanding. By two thousand and five, Guerrero
(16:40):
had spoken to more than twenty schools, but this fund was eventually closed before
September of twenty twenty. Sylvia Guerrero, Gwen's mother, worked as a legal
assistant at a San Jose law firm, but as of twenty sixteen, she
had become a homeless due to PTSD. From this incident, She had been
unable to work and now moved tobelongings from relatives' houses, using a borrowed
car from her friend. As oftwenty twenty two, Carrero was staying with
(17:04):
her son, but had still beentoo traumatized to work. This is probably
the saddest thing of the whole thing. People you know, think that obviously
the murderer only affects the victim rightthey're deceased. But Gwen's mother, of
course, has struggled ever since,and that is unfortunately one of the you
(17:26):
know, disgusting saddest parts of anycrime like this. In September of two
thousand and six, Arnold Schwartzchenegger hadbeen Governor of California, and he signed
the Gwen Arajo Justice for Victims Actinto law, which limited the use of
criminal defendants to use the gay transPanic defense. So he he limited the
(17:48):
use sorry by criminal defendants of thegay trans Panic defense by allowing parties to
instruct her is not to let biasinfluence their decisions, including bias against the
victim based on his or her genderidentity or sexual orientation. This law put
California on the record declaring it contraryto public policy for defendants to be acquitted
(18:10):
or convicted of a lesser charge onthe basis of appeals to societal bias.
In September twenty fourteen, Governor JerryBrown signed Assembly Bill Number twenty five oh
one, which further restricted the useof the gay trans Panic defense by prohibiting
defendants from claiming they were provoked amurder by discovering a victim's sexual orientation or
gender identity. Jason Casarez was releasedfrom prison in July twenty twelve. Jason
(18:36):
Nabors was released from prison sometime beforetwenty sixteen. Jose Morel was cranted parole
in twenty sixteen, and Sylvia Guerrerohad supported this. Maggotson said he was
not ready for release during his parboard hearing in twenty sixteen, and his
request for parole was opposed by Guerrero. Magason was denied parole again in September
of twenty nineteen. All Right,everyone, that concludes this episode of its
(19:03):
Crime Time. I hope you enjoyed, Thanks for listening, and until next time,
Hello listeners, and welcome back toanother episode of its Crime Time. On
this episode, I will be tellingthe story of Gwen amber Rose Arajo,
a transgender team who was murdered byfour men claiming she deceived them about her
gender. All right, everyone,it's crime Time. Gwen amber Rose Arajo
(00:37):
was born Edward row Junior in Brawley, California, on February TEWOD, nineteen
eighty five, two parents, EdwardRajo and Sylvia Guerrero. When Gwen was
just ten months old, her parentsdivorced in nineteen ninety nine. Gwen came
out as transgender at the age offourteen. She chose the name Gwen after
her favorite musician, Gwen Stefani.At one point, she also went by
(00:59):
Wendy and Lee. She started togrow her hair long and had planned to
hormone treatments and ab surgeries to completeher transition. Gwen's mother remembers the moment
her daughter had set her down forheart talk about her gender identity. She
told her mother, I don't feellike a boy. I feel like a
freak end a quote. Her mothersaid they both cried a lot that night,
but she did tell her that shewould support her transition. Her mother
(01:21):
stated in a documentary titled Trained inthe Ways of Men that she prayed for
a baby girl when she was pregnant, and she was going to name her
baby girl amber Rose, if,of course, she had been pregnant with
a girl. Her older sister,Pearl Sonserri, said that she did not
comprehend what Gwen was going through atthe time. Quote the first time I
(01:41):
saw makeup smeared, I was yelling, what's wrong with you? I didn't
understand. I never heard of theword transgender until she died end quote.
Her older sister said that Gwen hadbeen bullied in junior high school because of
her voice. Eventually, Gwenn transferredto an alternative high school, but she
did not return for the two thousandand two thousand and three academic yere Gwen
(02:02):
first met twenty two year old MichaelMaggotson and his friend's twenty two year old
Jose Morel, nineteen year old JasonNabors, and twenty two year old Jason
Cazerrez in late August or early Septemberof two thousand and two. Apparently the
night she met all of them,they smoke marijuana together and all kind of
flirted with Gwen. She flirted withthem back, and after Gwen left,
(02:25):
Nabores apparently asked the other three men, could this be a dude? So
when they had met Gwen, however, she went by the name Leita,
so they knew her as Leda.The reason the men say they assumed Gwen
was not biologically a female is becauseshe would not allow them to touch her
(02:46):
genitals when any of them engaged ina sexual acts with her. On October
third, in two thousand and two, Gwen attended a party at jose Morel's
house. This house was shared withhis younger brother Manny and older brother Paul.
Paul had also previously engaged in sexualacts with Gwen. Becauzarez and Nobors
(03:06):
were at the house, as wellas Paul's girlfriend, Nicole Brown. After
partying all night, during the earlymorning hours of October fourth, the men
started to question Gwen to ask ifshe was biologically male. Nicole Brown grabbed
Gwen's crotch during a confrontation they hadin the bathroom and revealed to everyone that
Gwen had male genitalium. At thispoint, the men became enraged over this.
(03:29):
Maggotson and had punched Gwen. Jose, who had been crying and allegedly
vomiting in anguish that he had sexwith the male, then struck Gwen with
a frying pan and a can offood after Maggotson had punched her in the
face knocked her to the ground.Maggotson also had put her in a choke
hold and was kind of pulling onher skirts to get her to reveal her
(03:49):
genitals. Nicole attempted to comfort Jose, saying, quote, it's not your
fault. I went to high schoolwith you, and you were on the
football team. Any woman that knowsyou after this, it's not going to
matter. Just let her go endquote. The last words Jose heard Gwen
speak were I told you I wassorry. Jose's brother, Manny or Emanuel,
(04:10):
testified that he attempted to get Gwenout of the house, but the
other men stopped him. Nicole,Brown, Palmrel, and Manny Morel left
the house while Gwen was still bleedingin the living room. Naboras and Ghazarez
left in Maggotson's truck to retrieve shovelsand a pickaxe from Kazarres' house. They
left the other men at the homewith Quent. When they left, the
(04:31):
other men had apparently been saying thatthey were going to quote kill that bitch
end quote. Upon the men's returnto the home, Gwen had still been
conscious, but was bleeding from ahead wound received by the can of food
because the can of food had kindof created this large cash on her head.
She had also been sitting on thecouch, and Jose had been concerned
(04:54):
that Gwen was bleeding on his couchand ordered her to get off of it.
At some point the assaulta and Gwenwas and the boor's and Gazarez urged
the others to quote knock the bitchout end quote. Maggidson's assault had been
so severe that I left a dentin the wall and had cracked the plaster.
Maggotson struck Gwen so hard with hisknee in the head that Gwen hit
(05:15):
the wall and then fell unconscious.Kazaras then kicked her. Jose attempted to
clean Gwen's blood off of his couchand carpet before retreating to his room so
the others could not see him crying. Maggotson bound Gwen's wrists and ankles wrapped
her in a comforter to minimize theamount of blood staying in the carpet,
and carried her to the garage ofthe home. At this point, the
(05:36):
defendant's testimonies had differed. Niboris testsifiedthat Maggotson strangled Gqwenn with the rope and
Kazaraz struck her with a shovel,and Bors was returning from the garage and
says he did not actually witness theincident. He said he saw Maggotson raising
the rope to Gwen's neck before heleft the garage. Maggotson seated it was
Nibors who actually strangled Gwenn and thehead struck her with the shovel. Kazara
(05:59):
says he never struck her and itdid not witness her die. Jose testified
he was busy cleaning Gwen's blood offthe couch and carpets as Maggotson was binding
her ankles. Jose said he thoughtshe was still alive until he saw her
body in the bed of Maggotson's truck. It isn't clear at which point Gwen
died, but the autopsy revealed thatshe died from strangulation associated with blood forced
(06:19):
trauma to the head. Nobor statedthat Maggotson wasn't sure if she was dead
after strangling her, but once Jasonhit her twice with the shovel, he
knew she was dead. Maggotson,Jose and Noboras drove four hours to the
Silver Forks campground in El Dorado NationalForest to dispose of Gwen's body, which
(06:41):
had been in the bed of Maggotson'spickup truck. She was buried in a
shallow grave. The boys then droveto McDonald's, went through the drive through,
and brought and bought breakfast. Sothis struck me as very weird and
disgusting that they did all of thishorrendous stuff and then could just eat breakfast
and McDonald's like nothing happened. Nicolehad called Jose then to ask what they
(07:02):
did to Gwen? What had happenedto Gwen after she had left, and
he replied, quote, let's justsay she had a long walk home end
quote. The next day, onOctober fifth, Gwen's mom reported her missing.
Police initially did not take the caseseriously, partly because she was transgender,
and also because Gwen was known tostay away from home. Over night
(07:23):
partying at times. Rumors eventually reachedGwen's family that she had been outed as
transgender at a party and had beenkilled and buried in Tahoe. Gwen's aunt
called the police on October ninth topass this story to the police. Police
finally began to interview the partygoers,and one of them led police to the
home of Jose Morrel two days afterGwen was reported missing. A friend of
(07:46):
Jason Deporus described him as appearing verydistraught and acting kind of strange, and
he eventually had confessed to this friendwhat he and the four boys had done
shortly after returning from the side ofthe grave. The friend then tipped off
the police and agreed to wear amicrophone during another conversation with Nabors. When
a Bors was confronted with the recordingby police on October fifteenth, he then
(08:09):
agreed to take police to Gwen's body. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office had dispatched
four crime scene investigators and two detectivesto recover Gwen's body from the gravesite at
the campground. Initially Michael Maggotson,aged twenty two, Jason Debors, age
nineteen and Jose Morrel twenty two andof course, his brother Paul Morrell,
(08:31):
were arrested for Gwen's murder. Paulwas released after Emmanuel or Manny and Nicole
Brown told police he had left thescene with them. Maggotson, Nabors,
and Jose Morrel were officially charged withthe murders with the murder on October seventeenth,
and held without bail. On Octobertwenty fourth, Nabors pled not guilty.
(08:52):
Maggotson had still been searching for anattorney, and Jose was still reviewing
the evidence against him. Morell hadbeen confident and his charges would be dropped.
After being arrested, Nibors wrote aletter to his girlfriend in which he
stated that the boys had discussed asoprano's style plan to quote kill the bitch
and get rid of her body endquote. The letter was intercepted by sheriff's
(09:13):
officials, however, and led tothe arrest of Kazarres on November nineteenth.
Kazaras had been identified as a potentialwitness on October twenty second. Niboris pleaded
guilty on February twenty fourth, twothousand and three, to the lesser charge
of voluntary manslaughter, which carried onlyan eleven year prison sentence, along with
the promise to testify against the otherthree. Judge Kenneth Burr warned Nobors that
(09:37):
he could still be charged with murderif prosecutors had found he was not living
up to his end of the bargainby testifying. Of course, during the
indictment, Nabors gave a detailed accountof the murder and burial. As they
were burying her, the men continuedto disparge Gwen, and Niboris stated he
could not believe that someone would everdo that, would be that deceitful,
(09:58):
and Ose added he was so madhe could still kick her a couple more
times. So these men just seemedto have absolutely no remorse whatsoever. They
felt that the murder was justified becausethey say Gwen deceived them about her gender.
Nabores received an eleven year prison sentenceon August twenty fifth, two thousand
(10:20):
and six. With credit for timeserved, he was expected to only spend
five years in jail from this point. Alameda County Deputy a District Attorney Chris
Lamiro made a statement before Maggodson's firsttrial, quote, one can debate the
propriety of one choosing to identify witha gender other than the one they were
born with. But I trust juriesto understand that people don't get to make
(10:41):
life or death decisions simply based onsomeone's lifestyle. That's not a world in
which I want to live, wheremost people want to live in end quote.
Tori's selection for the trial of Maggotson, Jose Morel, and Cazarrez began
on March fifteenth, two thousand andfour. Jurors were asked if they knew
any lesbian, gay, bisexual,or transgender people, whether they knew any
(11:05):
recently married same sex couples, metany transgender people, or whether they had
seen a movie or theatrical performance depictingthe activities of a transgender person. The
defense attorneys explained that the last questionwas asked to prospective jurors and was more
specific, asking if they had seenPoisoned Cry or The Laramie Project. Those
who had not would be prompted towatch those films. The first trial began
(11:28):
on April fourteenth, two thousand andfour. Magazine's defense attorney argued he should
not be charged with murder, butmanslaughter at worse under California law. He
said his client was not biased,but was shot beyond reason to learn he
had unwittingly had sex with the man. This was a variant on the gay
Panic defense. Na Boris said hefelt his friends had been raped since Gwen
did not come clean with what hereally was quote. I feel like he
(11:48):
forced them into homosexual acts, andmy definition of rape was being forced into
sex end quote. He was thenasked how Gwen had forced them, and
he replied through deception. The firsttrial ended in a miss trial on June
twenty second, Following nine days ofdeliberations, tours were unable to reach a
unanimous decision for the three boys.The jury had agreed that Gwen had been
murdered, but they could not agreewhether it was premeditated or not. The
(12:11):
final votes were tended to in favorof acquitting Jose Morrel and Kazar as a
first degree murder, and seven tofive in favor of convicting Maggots in a
first degree murder. Although they hadbeen given the option of convicting the men
of second degree murder or manslaughter,they were unable to proceed past the first
degree murdered deliberations. The second trialbegan on May thirty first, two thousand
and five. The publicity received bytransgender activists had been the reason the public
(12:33):
had been informed about the tactics.The defense lawyers had adopted to blame Gwen
for her own death after the firsttrial it ended in mistrial. Gwen's mother
had been granted permission to change Gwen'sname posthumously, requiring defense lawyers to refer
to the victim with her preferred femalepronouns. Maggots and Morrel and Kazaras had
been charged with first degree murder withhate crime enhancements starting this trial. They
(12:54):
testified their second trial and blamed eachother as well as Nabor's Nobors testified that
Maggs admitted to strangling Gwen. Morelltestified that Nabors was responsible for the head
injuries of Gwen, but supported thatMaggotson had strangled her. Maggotson testified that
Nabors strangled Gwen. During maggots Intestimony, a tape of the initial interview
(13:15):
with police was shown in which theinvestigator was coaching him to use the trans
panic defense, stating quote, you'dbe surprised moms, especially moms, if
they knew the facts, you'd besurprised. End quote. This was a
very weird statement in the context ofeverything. But the way I took it
was maybe that he was trying toconvince maggots and that any moms when the
durrey would side with him because theywouldn't want their son to be gay or
(13:39):
wouldn't want their son to unwittingly engageand acts with the male. I'm not
sure how that statement was used orthought up. That it's a very weird
thing to tell a defendant. Duringclosing statements, Kauzarrez's defense lawyer argued that
the three defendants were ordinary human beingswho were guilty at most of manslaughter for
(14:03):
their role in the death in aclassic state of heat and passion. To
avoid another mistrial, prosecuting attorney Chrislamiiro or agued for first degree murder convictions,
but he gave the jurors the optionof a second degree murder conviction for
the three. He asked the juryto refer to return with first degree murder
convictions for Maggodson and Casaras, butpointed at Maggodsen as the main culprit who
had strangled quen, and he calledhim a poor excuse for a man with
(14:26):
a stupid and moronic list of excusesfor murdering her. On September eighth,
the jury had reached verdicts on twoof the three defendants, and then on
September twelfth, after a week ofdeliberation, the jury announced all of their
verdicts. The jury had been deadlockedon Kazaras, voting nine to three in
favor of convicting him for the murder. Maggotson and Jose Morrel were both convicted
(14:48):
on charges of second degree murder,but not convicted of the hate crime allegations.
Michael Maggodson and Jose Morrell were sentencedin January to fifteen years to life
in prison for the second degree murderof Gwen. Marel expressed deep sorrow and
regret to Gwen's family, but Maggotsonwas angry and expressed no remorse for his
role in the murder of Gwent.To avoid a third trial, Cuzaras pleaded
(15:11):
no contest to a manslaughter charge onDecember sixteenth, two thousand and five,
and was sent to six years inprison with credit for time already served.
Kazaras asked to begin serving a sentenceafter the birth of his third child,
which had been scheduled for March orApril of two thousand and six. This
was granted, and La Mairo notedit was difficult for him to entertain a
requests like that since Gwen is dead, and of course Gwen's mother had lost
(15:35):
a child, so you know,why should he get to be there for
the birth of his child. Butthis request nonetheless was granted. Gwen Rajo
was mourned in a public funeral atSaint Edward's Catholic Church in Newark on October
twenty fifth, two thousand and two. There were people at the funeral that
were picketing with signs, but Gwen'sfriends were angel wings to block the casket
(15:56):
from these signs. Although Gwen hadbeen cremated and her mother was given her
ashes and an urn, they stillchose to have the caskid everything like a
traditional funeral for anyone that wanted togo. After the murder of Gwen,
Transvision, a health and social servicesprogram for transgender people in Alameda County,
was founded on the first anniversary ofGwen's murder. Horizons Foundation created the Gwenorajo
(16:19):
Memorial Fund for Transgender Education. Thiswas to support school based programs in the
nine county Bay area that promoted theunderstanding of transgender people and issues through annual
grants. Sylvia Guerrero, Gwenn's mother, and her family spoke in middle of
high schools about transgender awareness and understanding. By two thousand and five, Guerrero
(16:40):
had spoken to more than twenty schools, but this fund was eventually closed before
September of twenty twenty. Sylvia Guerrero, Gwen's mother, worked as a legal
assistant at a San Jose law firm, but as of twenty sixteen, she
had become a homeless due to PTSD. From this incident, She had been
unable to work and now moved tobelongings from relatives' houses, using a borrowed
car from her friend. As oftwenty twenty two, Carrero was staying with
(17:04):
her son, but had still beentoo traumatized to work. This is probably
the saddest thing of the whole thing. People you know, think that obviously
the murderer only affects the victim rightthey're deceased. But Gwen's mother, of
course, has struggled ever since,and that is unfortunately one of the you
(17:26):
know, disgusting saddest parts of anycrime like this. In September of two
thousand and six, Arnold Schwartzchenegger hadbeen Governor of California, and he signed
the Gwen Arajo Justice for Victims Actinto law, which limited the use of
criminal defendants to use the gay transPanic defense. So he he limited the
(17:48):
use sorry by criminal defendants of thegay trans Panic defense by allowing parties to
instruct her is not to let biasinfluence their decisions, including bias against the
victim based on his or her genderidentity or sexual orientation. This law put
California on the record declaring it contraryto public policy for defendants to be acquitted
(18:10):
or convicted of a lesser charge onthe basis of appeals to societal bias.
In September twenty fourteen, Governor JerryBrown signed Assembly Bill Number twenty five oh
one, which further restricted the useof the gay trans Panic defense by prohibiting
defendants from claiming they were provoked amurder by discovering a victim's sexual orientation or
gender identity. Jason Casarez was releasedfrom prison in July twenty twelve. Jason
(18:36):
Nabors was released from prison sometime beforetwenty sixteen. Jose Morel was cranted parole
in twenty sixteen, and Sylvia Guerrerohad supported this. Maggotson said he was
not ready for release during his parboard hearing in twenty sixteen, and his
request for parole was opposed by Guerrero. Magason was denied parole again in September
of twenty nineteen. All Right,everyone, that concludes this episode of its
(19:03):
Crime Time. I hope you enjoyed, Thanks for listening, and until next time,
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