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Manslaughter ruled out, Araujo juror says
'Events devolved into brutal beating and homicide'
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
The jury that convicted two men of second-degree murder in the killing of Newark transgender teenager Gwen Araujo flatly rejected defense arguments that it was a case of manslaughter, a San Francisco lawyer who served on the panel said Tuesday.
An average person would not have resorted to murder upon discovering that Araujo, 17, was biologically male, Max Stern, 38, of Piedmont, said in an interview with The Chronicle.
"The community standard is not and cannot be that killing is something a reasonable person would have done that night," Stern said.
Stern, a civil litigator, said the eight-man, four-woman jury concluded that Jose Merel and Michael Magidson, both 25, had murdered Araujo in October 2002, rejecting defense arguments that at most they were guilty of manslaughter committed in the heat of passion caused by Araujo's sexual deception. Both men had sex with Araujo before the night she was killed. "This was not a manslaughter, because it is not reasonable to accept this behavior in response to the circumstances here," Stern said. "This is not confronting the molester of your children or someone who raped your spouse. These events devolved into a brutal beating and homicide."
The jury deliberated for a week at the Hayward Hall of Justice in the second trial in Araujo's slaying before revealing Monday that they were deadlocked 9-3 in favor of a second-degree murder conviction on a third defendant, Jason Cazares, 25.
Superior Court Judge Harry Sheppard declared a mistrial in Cazares' case. Prosecutors will announce at a Nov. 18 hearing whether they will retry Cazares. The first trial ended in June 2004 with the jury deadlocked on charges against all three men after 10 days of deliberation.
But Merel and Magidson's own testimony on the stand helped seal their fate, Stern said.
"Jose Merel admitted -- and this was corroborated -- that he was involved in striking her with a weapon," a skillet and a soup can, Stern said. "I believe that Magidson strangled the victim."
The jury was torn over Cazares because "there was no factual information that he committed any violence on the victim," Stern said.
Stern said he believed all the defendants had lied on the stand, "either by omission or commission." Some jurors also questioned whether the prosecution's key witness, Jaron Nabors, had been entirely forthright about his involvement in the slaying, Stern said. Nabors, 22, who led police to Araujo's body, pleaded guilty in 2003 to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for testifying against his friends. He is expected to receive an 11-year prison sentence. more at link:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/14/BAG7SEN2QI1.DTL
'Events devolved into brutal beating and homicide'
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
The jury that convicted two men of second-degree murder in the killing of Newark transgender teenager Gwen Araujo flatly rejected defense arguments that it was a case of manslaughter, a San Francisco lawyer who served on the panel said Tuesday.
An average person would not have resorted to murder upon discovering that Araujo, 17, was biologically male, Max Stern, 38, of Piedmont, said in an interview with The Chronicle.
"The community standard is not and cannot be that killing is something a reasonable person would have done that night," Stern said.
Stern, a civil litigator, said the eight-man, four-woman jury concluded that Jose Merel and Michael Magidson, both 25, had murdered Araujo in October 2002, rejecting defense arguments that at most they were guilty of manslaughter committed in the heat of passion caused by Araujo's sexual deception. Both men had sex with Araujo before the night she was killed. "This was not a manslaughter, because it is not reasonable to accept this behavior in response to the circumstances here," Stern said. "This is not confronting the molester of your children or someone who raped your spouse. These events devolved into a brutal beating and homicide."
The jury deliberated for a week at the Hayward Hall of Justice in the second trial in Araujo's slaying before revealing Monday that they were deadlocked 9-3 in favor of a second-degree murder conviction on a third defendant, Jason Cazares, 25.
Superior Court Judge Harry Sheppard declared a mistrial in Cazares' case. Prosecutors will announce at a Nov. 18 hearing whether they will retry Cazares. The first trial ended in June 2004 with the jury deadlocked on charges against all three men after 10 days of deliberation.
But Merel and Magidson's own testimony on the stand helped seal their fate, Stern said.
"Jose Merel admitted -- and this was corroborated -- that he was involved in striking her with a weapon," a skillet and a soup can, Stern said. "I believe that Magidson strangled the victim."
The jury was torn over Cazares because "there was no factual information that he committed any violence on the victim," Stern said.
Stern said he believed all the defendants had lied on the stand, "either by omission or commission." Some jurors also questioned whether the prosecution's key witness, Jaron Nabors, had been entirely forthright about his involvement in the slaying, Stern said. Nabors, 22, who led police to Araujo's body, pleaded guilty in 2003 to voluntary manslaughter in exchange for testifying against his friends. He is expected to receive an 11-year prison sentence. more at link:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/14/BAG7SEN2QI1.DTL
