[Mature] news' transgender killing case

[Hellfighter]

Star witness on in transgender killing case
Tuesday, June 7, 2005 Posted: 11:45 AM EDT (1545 GMT)

HAYWARD, California (AP) -- For weeks, the men had been suspicious about the biological identity of the flirty 17-year-old with the scratchy voice. Then, stoked with alcohol, they put their questions to the test with a barked out demand: "Are you a woman or a man?"

That was the story 22-year-old Jaron Nabors told jurors Monday as he began testifying in the case of three men accused of killing transgender teenager Gwen Araujo.

Nabors, who was at the house the night Araujo was killed, testified that the evening began normally enough, with he and the three defendants in the case -- Michael Magidson, Jason Cazares and Jose Merel -- going out to a bar and a nightclub.

But things began to sour after they returned to Merel's house, where Araujo was waiting for them, Nabors said.

The four met Araujo, known to them as Lida, in late summer 2002. At first they were friends, spending time at Merel's house together, drinking, smoking pot and playing dominoes, a favorite pastime, Nabors said.

But then Merel and Magidson had sexual encounters with Araujo. Suspicions grew after they compared notes.

Prosecutors say Araujo, who was born a boy named Edward but grew up to believe her true identity was as a woman, was murdered in a calculated act of revenge.

A previous trial ended in a hung jury last year after a defense attorney argued the case was not murder but manslaughter, a crime of passion provoked by sexual deceit -- a defense that angered Araujo's family and transgender advocates.

Nabors initially was charged with murder along with his friends. But he was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter in a deal with prosecutors.

On Monday, he testified that Araujo seemed astonished when her friends demanded she reveal her biological identity in the October 2002 confrontation at the Merel house in Newark, a San Francisco suburb.

"She looked like she was found out, like she had a secret and she couldn't believe she just got caught," he said.

The debate ended when another woman at the house grabbed Araujo's genitals, shouting, "It's a ... man!" Nabors said.

After that, he recalls Merel doubled over, crying and saying "I can't be ... gay."

Court adjourned at that point.

Nabors has said previously that he saw Merel striking Araujo with a can and a frying pan and saw Magidson punch, choke and knee her in the face. He said Araujo was later tied up and he saw Magidson start pulling a rope toward her neck and later heard Magidson talk about twisting the rope.

Defense attorneys mounted scathing attacks on Nabors' credibility in their opening statements last week. They noted that Nabors gave different stories to police when he was first contacted and described him as a manipulative liar.

Lawyers for the three defendants took divergent strategies in their openings.

Merel's lawyer said his client genuinely cared for Araujo and did not do her any serious injury. Cazares' lawyer said his client was outside when the killing took place and only helped bury the body out of loyalty to his friends. Magidson's lawyer repeated his defense from the first trial, that his client was involved in the attack and regretted it but it was not premeditated.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/07/tr....ap/index.html

you know it would not bug me to much, but the way this happen is sad ending, it not like they ask the person to get out of their life! they instead kill the person on the spot. sad ending

[lowlux]

was that guy dating that thing??? i would have killed him to! with a chorme chain.......