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Gay Prisoner Executed in Missouri

By Bryan Robinson

Stanley Lingar said before his execution that he was being punished for being gay. Prosecutors say it's the brutal sex-related kidnapping and the slaying really sealed his fate. To his supporters, Stanley Lingar was a victim of homophobia, executed because prosecutors used his sexual orientation to convince jurors to sentence him to death. To Missouri prosecutors, he is a convicted murderer who was finally punished for the brutal 1985 slaying of an honors student. Lingar was executed at 12:06 a.m. by lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal on Tuesday and Gov. Bob Holden did not grant him clemency. His last meal was corned beef sandwiches and french fries, and he did not make a final statement. However, his family released a statement on his behalf seeking forgiveness from the family of the victim. In 1986, Lingar was convicted of abducting and killing 16-year-old Thomas Scott Allen. According to court records, Allen's car ran out of gas outside Doniphan, southeast Missouri. Lingar and David Lee Smith offered him a lift. They drove Allen to a remote area, and told him to undress and start masturbating. When he refused, Lingar beat him with a tire iron, shot him three times, and ran over him with his car, prosecutors said. Smith pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced 10 years in prison in exchange for his testimony against Lingar. Smith is now free after completing his sentence. At trial, Smith testified that Lingar planned the killing and was the triggerman. In arguing for the death penalty, prosecutors introduced alleged evidence of Lingar's "bad character" by having Smith testify he and Lingar had a consensual homosexual relationship for three years.  Homosexuality in 'John Ashcroft Country'  - Lingar's attorneys believe the testimony about his sexual orientation - especially in rural Missouri in 1986 - unfairly prejudiced the jurors, convincing them to sentence him to death. "In the penalty phase, David Smith - who had already testified against Stanley in the guilt phase - was asked just one question," said Lingar's attorney, Kent Gipson. "When he testified that he and Stanley had engaged in a homosexual relationship, especially in rural Missouri in John Ashcroft country, they [jurors] decided, 'Let's kill him.' His sexual orientation offended the jury ... they decided that they should kill him because he was a deviant." In Lingar's appeal, Gipson also said his client is borderline retarded, with tests revealing he has an IQ of 80. This, along with the fact that Smith is clearly more intelligent, indicates that Lingar could not have been the mastermind behind the slaying, Gipson said. "He [Stanley] is not so bad off that he doesn't realize he's going to be executed, but David Smith is demonstrably more intelligent than he is," he said. "There's evidence that suggests that he, not Stanley, most likely committed the murder." Heinous Murder, No Remorse - Prosecutors say the testimony about Lingar's sexual orientation was used to prove an alleged motive for the slaying - to cover up his homosexuality. They have denied using homophobia to put Lingar on death row and say he is only using this last-minute argument to avoid accepting responsibility for his actions. "Stanley Lingar committed an incredibly heinous crime," said Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon. "He abducted a kid, made him strip in the back of a car, and when he [Allen] wouldn't perform, he shot him, beat him with a tire piece and ran him over. He has gone through 15 years of appeals ... These are long and difficult cases but he was given a lot more rights than he gave his victim."  Nixon said Lingar's sexual orientation was not a central part of the case and the jurors decided to sentence him to death because of the brutality of the slaying. Lingar's guilt in the slaying, he said, was proven decisively. "In his last hours, he has not voiced any remorse and has not reached out to any members of the victim's family," Nixon said. "Instead, he has avoided taking responsibility for a crime that was conclusively proven." The Florida Election Connection Gipson also argues that prosecutors never told Lingar's trial attorney that they intended to use "bad character" testimony. In 1999, the Missouri Supreme Court set aside convicted murderer Kenneth Thompson's death sentence for that reason, but did not accept the argument in Lingar's case. This prompted Gipson to file an ill-fated appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the Missouri high court violated Lingar's constitutional right to equal treatment under the law. In his Supreme Court argument, Gipson cited the justices' ruling in the George W. Bush-Al Gore election case, where the majority of the panel found the Florida Supreme Court violated the Constitution by ordering a partial recount of the votes. Just as the high court found that all the Florida voters were not being treated equally in a partial recount, Gipson argued that Lingar deserved the same treatment as Thompson. Before the justices rejected his arguments, Gipson admitted he didn't have a "whole lot of faith" the Supreme Court would help "a poor prisoner from Missouri." In his clemency appeal, Gipson argued that Lingar's counsel at trial was ineffective. Lingar's trial lawyer, Gipson says, barely provided a defense and did not present evidence that could have saved him from the death penalty. The entire trial - including the guilt and death penalty phases - took only three days, Gipson notes. "The only evidence really comes from David Smith," said Gipson. "And given the deal he worked out, his credibility was subject to attack." Supporters: Justice, Not Vengeance

Lingar had received support from Amnesty International USA, the American Civil Liberties Union and various other activist and anti-death penalty groups. William Dobbs, spokesman of Queer Watch, said the case has helped the public grow more aware of another kind of disparity in death row cases. "I think the country has gotten more aware of how race, class and prejudice can work its way in the judicial system," said Dobbs. "This is the kind of prejudice - gay prejudice - can work its way into courts as well. ... Just a handful of these cases have been documented in the judicial system. That this man [Lingar] has been sentenced to death basically because of his sexual preference is scary. This kind of testimony means that his sentence is tainted and leaves the entire justice system in doubt. "This was a horrific crime," Dobbs said of Thomas