(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Patient recovering after attack in Great Falls; Missoula rep said bill would help LGBTQ victims – Daily Montanan [1] ['Nicole Girten', 'More From Author', '- February'] Date: 2023-02-22 A Great Falls victim was still recovering from serious injuries after a man who yelled the person was “trans” drove his car into them at a bar on Friday, according to a court affidavit and the Cascade County Attorney’s Office. County Attorney Josh Racki said Wednesday he did not know if the victim was still hospitalized after the Friday incident; the affidavit said the victim was bleeding internally after an attacker pinned the person against a wall with his car and left the victim with a fractured pelvis and severe leg wound. However, Racki said he understands the person is still recovering from severe injuries. The affidavit said first responders saw fluid coming out of the mouth of the victim, who was found on the ground. John P. Carr, 57, has been charged with felony criminal endangerment and a misdemeanor for fleeing the scene in connection with the incident. Racki said Carr posted a $10,000 bail and will be arraigned in coming weeks. The Daily Montanan could not confirm the victim’s gender identity Wednesday. The court affidavit refers to the victim as female. It said Carr confronted the victim after yelling at the person “about being trans.” Citing the incident in Great Falls and other assaults, Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, said Wednesday attacks against the LGBTQ community are not new. In the House Judiciary Committee, she presented a bill to prohibit the “panic defense” in relation to violent crimes against LGBTQ people. The “panic defense” is defined by the LGBTQ+ Bar as “a legal strategy that asks a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity/expression is to blame for a defendant’s violent reaction, including murder.” House Bill 552 would make evidence of a defendant’s discovery of a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including if they made a non-criminal romantic advance, inadmissible in court. Zephyr said the first attempt at the “panic defense” in Montana was in 1980, when a man on trial for murder accused his victim of stealing his truck. When that defense didn’t stand, she said, the defendant tried to defend himself by arguing he had discovered the man was gay. One of the most famous cases of LGBTQ+ violence and use of the “panic defense” happened in neighboring Wyoming to 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, who was beaten, tied to a fence and left to die in Laramie in 1998. Two men accused Shepard, a gay man, of making advances on them as part of their defense. The judge dismissed that argument, and two defendants were ultimately sentenced to a double life sentence. At the hearing, four proponents testified, including the ACLU of Montana, Montana Women Vote and the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. The bill heard had no opponents. Hannah Pate of Montana Women Vote said women and female-presenting LGBTQ people are five times more likely to experience violence. Zephyr, the first openly transgender woman elected to the statehouse, said the panic defense is banned in 17 states and a ban is being considered in another dozen states. Legislation banning the panic defense was introduced at the federal level in 2021. “The reality is our legal system should never be used to make people feel like they are responsible for something heinous that has happened to them because of who they are,” said Maggie Bornstein, with the ACLU of Montana. The committee did not have questions on the bill. Zephyr said in an interview following the hearing that in talking with members of the committee, she believes there’s an understanding, despite the “strong opinions” on LGBTQ issues, that LGBTQ people deserve the same rights in the court system. The committee did not immediately take action on this bill. ABC Fox said Tuesday the victim of the Great Falls attack had not been released from the hospital. Benefis Health System said Wednesday it could not release the status of the patient. The suspect has not pleaded in court yet. However, Racki said he did not believe the details of the case would necessarily apply to the “panic defense,” and he didn’t believe such an argument would hold water in court. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/02/22/patient-recovering-after-attack-in-great-falls-missoula-rep-said-bill-would-help-lgbtq-victims/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/