Hopefully the ACLU will take this one on. What a completely horrible bunch of jurors. I sure hope he gets a better outcome on appeal.
The ugliness of some people in America is appalling.
Besides the death sentence and life sentences do nothing to deter crime. smh

Throw this on top of a limitless pile of the horrible atrocities that come from our "justice" system and the idea that jury trials are the best option we can come up with.

I see a twisted parallel between the major religions beliefs and our society in general with respect to dealing with crimes. The prevailing opinion seems to be that once someone has been found guilty (or even just accused), anything that befalls them is justified. It's not enough to get the person to stop committing crimes, not enough that they do all they can to make amends to society for what they did, not enough to rehabilitate them and make them productive and respectable members of society again - these folks in our society have a NEED to see people punished, to see them suffer, and to take away any semblance of humanity they might have.

As if the only thing necessary for this person to be happy would be to engage in sex with someone of the same gender. Never mind the lack of consent on his part, or the violence that goes with it. I'm guessing that these same jurors would be fine with sending a female offender to a men's prison - if they thought that it meant she'd be raped daily and beaten badly if she didn't comply with her rapists' instructions. Regardless of how much pleasure that would give the convicts administering said rapes and beatings.

How we treat our prisoners, the convicted and the accused going through the justice system says a lot more about us as a society and as a people than it does about the offenders. We should have a definite and clear purpose for what we're doing when we imprison someone. Punishment for its own sake says terrible things about us: it's just torture porn for people with sadistic tendencies. Taking away someone's freedom will stop them from committing most crimes (but we still have murders, assaults, rapes, and drug use in our prisons... hmmm), so that can be one reason for it. Having the offender pay restitution to their victim or the victim's family serves a purpose of at least partially making up for committing the offense. Rehabilitating the offender so that they can rejoin society and contribute to the well-being of all without re-offending would be the highest and most noble thing we could aspire to with respect to our justice system (which is what Netherlands does, and has just about the lowest recidivism rate in the world).

But not the USA. Our policy is one of gleefully torturing these people for as long as we can stomach it, to take their physical and mental health, and all their worldly possessions and even their humanity away from them, and even when they are released we deny them most opportunities for making a living and to positively contribute back to society.

Pretty much every politician these days runs on a platform of "getting tough on crime" - as if we've been treating them too well in the past. They are just tapping into our society's rotten core of sadism, while ignoring the huge costs that goes along with such policies. Every general population prisoner costs us $30k-60k per year to hold in prison. People on death row can cost as much as twice that, without considering the actual execution, or the multiplier of a death penalty trial and the attendant appeals. Sentences get longer and longer, and no one seems willing to address the financial cost of doing that, or the pile of broken human wreckage that such a system creates.

We have plenty of studies that show that longer sentences do essentially nothing to deter crime, especially when you consider the sizeable increase in cost that goes with it, and that the death penalty does not actually deter people from committing crimes. The USA has only 5% of the world's population, yet holds 20% of the world's prison population. And we still think of ourselves as the "good guys".

[businessinsider.com]

And yet another reason to be vehemently against the death penalty.

Almost 20 years working in Corrections, and let me tell you, it's no picnic for anyone, and especially not for a gay/trans man. They are particularly targeted by other inmates and often considered "property" of other prisoners and fought over, or forced to pay protection to avoid paying in forced sexual favors. (Yes, we, the staff, do try very hard to prevent this behavior, but there are 50 or 100 prisoners to 1 officer and it's impossible to watch everyone all the time.)

So, the jury's reasoning is faulty as hell. He certainly would not have been getting a "vacation" or any kind of pleasure trip.

Dam sounds like texas!

Here's ANOTHER reason to send a few dollars to ACLU!

I think I'm hearing a contingent dog whistle. That is that homosexual rape is part and parcel to the punishment of incarceration. So if you enjoy any portion of the collective punishment, you're missing the point.
This man is being killed out of spite. Nothing more.

Never heard anything so barbaric and archaic. If that is the prevailing ideology the USA is screwed. I suggest you all get out and come to Australia where the worst that happens is you burn your snags on the barbie or the beer is luke warm instead of chilled!

Blimey! U.S really is down the tubes!

Holy shit man. When is the next flight to Sweden?

I am opposed to the death penalty period. Their sentencing him to death becuase of his sexuality is the same as a hate crime to my way of thinking.

While his crime very well might have been enough to have him sentenced to death, the fact that there is evidence that his sentence was influenced by his sexuality is very troubling. BTW, I am opposed to the death penalty, period, so I would disagree with the sentence no matter the circumstances.

Well pardon my French, but that's supremely fucked up. I agree with the article that the courts in SD have sent a deeply troubling message via their silence regarding the value (or lack thereof) placed on LGBTQ people. =[ It was well within the purvey of the court to modify that sentence based on the extremely prejudicial nature of the reasoning behind the sentencing. We are living in scary times.

My goodness! That rabble sounds as sadistic and messed up as any perpetrator.