A Crothersville man was beaten to death earlier this month, and family members are wondering whether the man may have been murdered because the suspects thought he was gay. This murder has been widely covered by the area media, but the hate crime possibility has only recently come to light.
Police believe that Aaron Hall, 35, was beaten to death on April 12 by three suspects, one of whom now claims that Hall made a sexual pass at him during an evening of beer drinking.
Read the coverage by WTHR-13 of Indianapolis here. Coverage by WAVE-3 in Louisville, KY is here.
A post about the possibility that this is a hate crime can be read at "Advance Indiana" blog here.
Personally I don't know what to think. Did the sexual pass actually occur? Or are the suspects coming up with this story because they think that it is their best chance at getting off with a light sentence?
In any event, if the suspects stick with this story, the Indiana justice system needs to demonstrate that a man making a pass at another man is not a justification for murder. What ever happened to "Just say NO"?
In this sense, it might be the legal system itself that is being tested. Stay tuned.
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