Religious Liberty On Trial

by Debbie Lawrence

  I’m sure that some of you have your own personally held religious beliefs. I’m not asking you to put them aside, what I am asking is for you to consider ALL the principles of your faith and apply them to this case. You’ve spent a couple of hours with Tina, listening to her testimony, but you’ve also spent a few days learning what it was like in Tina’s world before and after she stopped trying to pretend to be a boy.”

  “You may or may not be able to appreciate the pain and suffering she experienced as a child, but you can see pictures of the pain and suffering inflicted on her by the defendants. Tina is not the criminal here; she is the one who was brutally and mercilessly attacked. She was the one who was stretched out spread eagle so that the goons they HIRED for SEXUAL FAVORS, could destroy her reproductive system, and then go on to cause so much damage that Tina ended up legally dead.

  Tina miraculously recovered, so we won’t ask you for a verdict on first degree murder, but we will ask you for a verdict of guilty on first degree kidnapping, first degree aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon, Betsy’s spike heel shoes, and first degree rape, for destroying her reproductive system. Don’t let this case become an invitation for any bigot with an attitude and a violent temper to rape, murder, or kill anyone who doesn’t fit their ideal of what a good person should be.

  There was a time, not so long ago, when the trees of the south were heavy with the corpses of “niggers” who had been lynched the night before. They were a warning to other blacks and those who would help them, that in this place, the law didn’t matter, the KKK ruled the land, and lynching was the order of the day. If you are offended by the word “nigger” you should be equally offended by words like “sissy”, “faggot”, “tranny”, and “queer”, especially when referring to the victim of a violent crime.

  Ladies and Gentlemen, don’t let criminals hide behind the mantle of “Religious Liberty”. The case has been made, they have even admitted under oath, you MUST find them guilty on all counts.”

  Defense Closing Arguments

  Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, this is not a trial about theology. It’s not important who had the deeper understanding of the Bible, or who had the most positions at their church. There are several questions we need to focus on. First, what were the deeply held personal religious beliefs of Thomas and Elizabeth at the time of the attack. We have spoken to three of their pastors, all of whom have admitted to telling members of their congregation that homosexuals and transsexuals should be put to death.

  Yet, in their attack, Thomas and Elizabeth showed Tina mercy, they didn’t kill her, they just tried to teach her a lesson, to correct the error of her ways. They beat her, but they did not kill her, even though the teachings of the faith in which they grew up taught that people like Tina should be put to death. It doesn’t matter how many books of the Bible these verses take up, what matters is that they had been told many times a year that homosexuals and transvestites should be put to death, and that if they did not carry out this order, that their own mortal souls would be in jeopardy.

  Thomas and Elizabeth saw Tina as an immediate threat to their immortal souls, to fail to act would mean they would be condemned to eternity in hell. They believed, as strongly as you believe that the chair you’re sitting in is real, that failure to make an example out of Tina would lead to not only their own damnation, but also the damnation of others.

  As for Thomas, it has been shown that he wasn’t actively involved in the beatings, he wasn’t actively involved in the kidnapping, and he wasn’t involved in the actions that lead to the near death of Tina Clark. Thomas Clark has stated under oath that he never intended for Tina to be as severely beaten as she had been. Elizabeth has already admitted that it was she, on her own, who got the guys wired up on drugs to make them more violent. Thomas is nothing more than an accessory to manslaughter, which would be a minor crime and is not being offered as a verdict, so you need to acquit him of the charge of conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, rape, and aggravated assault.”

  As the defense sat down, she whispered, loudly enough so everyone could hear “You bastard, you set me up and threw me to the wolves just to save Tommy.”

  The Judge’s Instructions

  “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, in this case, you have to consider three aspects of this crime.”

  “First, you must consider the evidence and testimony of all of the witnesses, including any admissions they may have unintentionally made, to determine whether a crime has been committed and who committed which crimes.”

  “Second, you have to consider whether the defendant’s constitutional rights were being violated or threatened, if Tina had a gun pointed at Thomas, then Elizabeth would have been justified in acting to save her brother’s life. In this case, the defense has asserted that because of Tina’s wardrobe and her honesty about her true genitalia, that they were afraid of something more important than their own lives. They assert that they were concerned for their immortal souls as well as those of other people who might encounter Tina. It is up to you as the jury to determine whether there is sufficient level evidence to prove that they did in fact have a legitimate fear that met the standard of self-defense. I ask you to determine whether actions taken by TINA were such that they constituted a threat that would have made Thomas fear for his life or the life of his friends. This must be based solely on the evidence you have heard in this courtroom.”

  “The THIRD thing you have to consider is TINA’s right to HER freedom of religion. The right of freedom of speech ends where your fist meets my nose. You may be offended by the appearance or activities of Tina and her friends, but she has the right to practice HER religion, or no religion, and has the right to HER freedom of expression, so long as she doesn’t represent a clear and present danger to others.”

  “I ask you, as members of the jury to consider the rights of Thomas, Elizabeth, AND TINA, when deciding on your verdict.”

  The Judge also went on to describe the distinctions of law that would apply in this case. The jury was given an explanation of each of the original charges, as well as an explanation of each of the reduced charges that they could consider as options if the evidence didn’t fit the requirements for the original charges.

  Finally, they were told to consider the charges of each defendant separately, so if Betsy had committed a crime but there wasn’t sufficient evidence that Thomas had committed that crime as well, then they would should not charge Thomas for a crime that only Elizabeth had actually committed, then they could find Elizabeth guilty of one crime and Thomas guilty for a lesser crime, or even find him innocent. Finally, they were to consider each charge separately, so if they were guilty of 3 crimes but not guilty of 1 charge, they would convict on the 3 charges, but not on the other charge.

  Then the Jury went in to deliberate.

  Defense lawyer made another phone call. “Senator, we have a problem.”

  Senator Thompson replied “No we don’t.”

  Defense nodded “I won’t ask.”

  Senator Thompson replied “Bright boy.” Then he hung up.

  The Jury deliberated for three days. One of the jurors was more conservative than Dr. Freed, and kept insisting on acquittal for Tommy. Finally, the Jurors were able to get him to see it from a different perspective?

  “What if Tommy had done the same thing to your DAUGHTER!”

  The reluctant juror took a lot of convincing, but he realized that if someone had done to his daughter, what had been done to Tina, he would have wanted to convict him of every possible charge.

  The second challenge was getting him to look at the notes Alice had submitted as well as the notes from the hospital and the notes Nancy had submitted. As he was reminded of the hundreds of beatings Tina had already endured, he began to soften. They read the accounts of childhood hospital records aloud for everyone to hear, the accounts of the assault by Betsy and Tom's friends aloud. They read the descriptions of the Conversion Therapy aloud. He realized that he had
no choice but to go along with the rest of the Jury.

  The next morning, the Jury announced they had reached their verdicts.

  The Verdict

  Judge Connor opened the sheet of paper handed to her by the bailiff from the Foreman.

  Judge Connor read the charges, and the foreman announced the verdict.

  “On the charge of Attempted Murder, how do you find?”

  “We find Elizabeth guilty, Thomas not guilty.”

  “On the charge of conspiracy to commit murder, how do you find?”

  “We find both defendants guilty”

  “On the charge of kidnapping, how do you plead?”

  “We find Elizabeth guilty, Thomas not guilty”

  “On the charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, how do you find?”

  “We find both defendants guilty as charged.”

  “On the charge of first degree aggravated sexual assault, how do you find?”

  “We find Elizabeth guilty as charged, we find Thomas not guilty.”

  “On the charge of conspiracy to aggravated sexual assault, how do you find?”

  “We find both defendants guilty as charged”

  “On the charge of first degree aggravated assault, how do you find?”

  “We find Elizabeth guilty as charged.”

  “On the charge of conspiracy for aggravated sexual assault, how do you find?”

  “We find both defendants guilty as charged.”

  The Judge thanked the Jury for their decisions.

  Judge Conner then turned to the court “We will begin a sentencing hearing starting tomorrow.”

  The Deal

  Thomas was led to the office of the prosecutor. The Senator was already sitting in the chair. The Defense lawyer was sitting in the other chair.

  Thomas was bewildered “Dad? What’s this about?”

  The Senator was fiercely calm “You are about to get a final offer, and I strongly suggest you accept it.”

  The district attorney sat as his desk while Thomas stood, handcuffed, the police officer standing behind him. When queued by the DA, the officer stepped outside, waiting near the door in case there were any problems.

  The DA turned to Thomas “I’m going to give you one last chance to avoid spending the rest of your life in Canyon City State Prison. I strongly suggest you accept this offer.”

  Thomas nodded “Yes sir, I’m listening.”

  The DA nodded “Personally, I’d love to see you get the full sentence, but there are too many issues in this case. Here’s my offer. If you agree, you will serve 23 months in the county jail, then you will be on probation for the remainder of a 20-year sentence, getting a concurrent suspended sentence. If you violate parole, you will, of course, be forced to serve out the remainder of your entire sentence. However, you must waive 8th Amendment rights, so if you are harmed by the other inmates, you cannot sue the state.”

  Thomas nodded “I understand this option.”

  The DA continued, “If you refuse this offer, we will petition for consecutive sentences, you will be eligible for parole in 70. Years, when you are 92 years old.”

  Thomas was stunned. “Oh! I’ll agree to option one!”

  Senator Thompson nodded “Good for you Thomas, I’m glad you are able to see reason.”

  The DA turned to the Senator, “I will make my recommendation to the Judge”

  Tommy was led away, back to the county jail. He had waived his rights to appeal, so he was going directly to custody.

  About 20 minutes later, Elizabeth entered the DAs office.

  The Senator was sitting across from the DA.

  The DA rose. “Elizabeth, I am willing to make you a single offer. If you refuse this offer, I will ask the judge for maximum penalty with consecutive sentences. You will spend the rest of your life in a maximum-security state prison with no possibility of parole.”

  Betsy fumed “I’d have been better off if I’d killed that tranny bitch.”

  Senator Thompson barked “Shut up Betsy, you have one last chance at freedom, so listen carefully.”

  The DA continued “If you waive your right to appeal, if you agree to waive your 8th Amendment rights, I will recommend to the Judge that you serve concurrent sentences, which would mean that you would be sentenced to 25 years with possibility of parole in 15 years. You’d still be relatively young, only 35 years old.”

  Betsy hated the idea of going back to prison for another 15 years, but she hated the idea of spending the rest of her life in a maximum-security prison even more.

  “OK, I’ll take the deal!”

  The DA shook his hand. “Good news! They both took the deal!”

  Defense turned to the Senator. “They have no idea what this means to them!”

  The Senator shook his head. “No, and you are NOT to tell them.”

  Defense nodded “Thomas doesn’t know that he’s going to be raped several times a day in county jail by hardened criminals?”

  The Senator nodded “Nobody told Betsy that she would be assaulted several times a day for 8 years. Tom will only be getting it for a year.”

  Defensed nodded “And Betsy will be in a minimum-security prison?

  The Senator nodded “I promised her mother that I would try to get her easy time. Of course, with her temper and history, it’s only a matter of time before they put her in maximum security.”

  Defense nodded “I’d love to see the expression on her face when she gets raped by the women in the maximum-security prison!”

  The Senator nodded, “Tina didn’t know someone would castrate her within weeks after she came out. It will be as much of a surprise to Betsy as it was to Tina.”

  Defense was still upset “I just worry about them waving their 8th amendment rights, they could be subjected to any form of cruel and unusual punishment.”

  The Senator nodded “Like conversion therapy? We had discussed that option for Betsy, but even the District Attorney here wouldn’t agree to that. Besides, her mother would never forgive me.”

  The Senator turned to the Defense attorney “We need to make sure that this case gets buried and stays buried. There is way too much testimony of some important people that needs to be sealed so it can’t be used against the defense witnesses.”

  “I have done as you asked. I set up a shell charity, the donors will be you, the Southern Baptist convention, the Seventh Day Adventists, Calvary Temple, and Focus on the Family, and Christian Broadcasting Network. Each will pay a portion of their income. Tina will get $1 million up front and $100,000 a year for the next 20 years. That should help with her transition costs and help her erase her past as Ted.”

  The DA nodded “So if Tina accepts this settlement, she agrees not to file lawsuits against the churches or the hospital. We will turn Dr. Freed’s testimony over to the medical board, he must lose his license, at least for 5 years. We need to make sure he isn’t allowed to practice medicine in the United States for 5 years.”

  “Dr. Freed will be doing some mission work in Africa, helping to cure people in a country where his bigotry will not be tolerated.”

  The DA nodded his head “I’ll get her to take the deal but if she’s harmed in any way in the next 20 years, the deal’s off the table, and I’ll prosecute all of them to the fullest extent of the law. I don’t want her signing the deal and having an ACCIDENT that lets your people off the hook without having to pay what they promised.”

  The Senator nodded. “OK, and one more thing, Tina can’t tell anyone about this settlement. She’s too sweet and naive to deal with the exploitation that comes when someone gets a large sum of money.”

  Epilogue

  Tina did accept the deal on the advice of her own attorney. It was a generous settlement and there wouldn’t be the risk of a juror softening the judgement.

  Shortly after the case was settled, Jim Jones killed a Senator, and his entire congregation. Tina’s case disappeared completely off the radar.

  Tina made some good investments
with the help of an uncle who helped her understand the market and how to make better investment decisions. In addition, she seemed to have an uncanny ability to sense trends and patterns, investing in new technologies like Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, and some Internet companies in the 1990s. She still maintained a low profile.

  Alice did get her PhD and lived with Tina for another 30 years. They were married in Tina’s church. Even though the marriage wasn’t recognized by the state, they did set up a domestic partnership agreement. Unfortunately, it still didn’t give them the same legal rights of a marriage. When Alice got sick, Tina’s insurance refused to pay for the health care. Even though the house was in both their names, they had a friend who lost her house when her partner died, because her deceased partner’s family got word of the death and demanded the house, savings, and car. Even the IRA and 401K plans were awarded to the parents who had thrown her out a decade earlier, for being gay. In 2008, Alice and Tina got legally married. When Tina died of a stroke a few years later, Alice got the widow’s deduction - the first $10 million was tax free. She had to pay taxes on the other $30 million. Alice also got widows benefits and SSI, and a pension from Tina’s company.

  Tina couldn’t be a father anymore. The state refused to allow Tina and Alice to adopt, and the private adoption agencies were all controlled by fundamentalist Christian organizations. Besides, the $250,000 fee they wanted, to pay for legal fees, bribes to social workers, and doctor fees, seemed excessive, especially since the poor mother didn’t get a dime. The Catholic Church did offer a home for unwed mothers, but the girls were not allowed to leave the building until they had their babies, and then they were turned out on the street like the garbage a few days after the birth.