08/20/2008
Killer Claims 'Gay Panic' in Murder of Louisiana High School Teacher
Twenty-year-old Louis Church killed Weston Verrette, a popular gay high school teacher in Gretna, Louisiana last week and confessed to it, but the police spokesman said he won't be pursuing hate crime charges because Church said he was enraged that Verrette had come on to him:
"Weston 'Tony' Verrette, 52, was found Friday afternoon in his bedroom, his throat slashed. By 10 p.m. that night, police had tracked down the suspect, Louis Church, 20, who had Verrette's wallet, cell phone and other belongings in his car. Church, later identified by police as the estranged stepson of retired Gretna Police Lt. Brad Church, confessed to murdering Verrette and claimed he had become enraged by Verrette allegedly making sexual advances on him, police spokesman Anthony Christiana said today."
Verrette had been helping Church get back on his feet because he was a "good Samaritan" according to the Deputy Police Chief.
Friends said Verrette was "generous to a fault": "Verrette, a French teacher and frequent traveler to Europe who had studied to be a monk in the hills of Florence, Italy, thought nothing of giving money away and opening his home to strangers in need, said Brien Gussoni, who knew Verrette for 27 years. 'He had a very hard life, and a lot of people did that for him,' said Gussoni, an attorney for the Port of New Orleans. 'You know, they'd take him in and help him. It was a payback kind of thing.'...Church...acknowledged that he had been homeless before Verrette met him on the levee in Gretna, took him in, fed him and gave him clothing, police said."
Posted 6:20 PM EST by Andy Towle in Crime, New Orleans, News | Permalink
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Not sure if the people commenting here are clear on the legal procedures that have already occurred or not in this case, particularly in the legally quirky state of LA. So far, while the killer is in custody and has confessed, he hasn't been formally charged and is nowhere near prepared to enter in any kind of formal defense of the "gay panic" sort, which may or may not be allowed under LA law (I don't know). Don't jump the gun; hardly anything legal has happened yet.
Posted by: anon | Aug 21, 2008 1:29:16 AM
I'm wondering, did WHITE CULTURE cause Louis Church to kill Weston Verrette?
If this had been a black on black (or black on anything) "homophobic" killing, the "blacks are more homophobic than whites, latinos and Asians" creeps would have been out in force on this site claiming that blacks are more homophobic than any other race.
Keep in mind that Matthew Shephard was murdered by two or three WHITE GUYS and little Lawrence king was murdered by a 14 year old WHITE BOY. You white gays who love to go on a "black people are more homophobic than any other race" rant whenever a black person does or says a homophobic thing need to keep those facts in mind.
Again, did WHITE CULTURE cause Louis Church to kill Weston Verrette?
Posted by: elg | Aug 21, 2008 6:06:51 AM
COMMON SENSE: I see some others have taken you to task for other points already, but I also need to point out that this killer is not a specimen to be considered "hyper masculine". He appears to simply be a cowardly little shit whose throat-slashing strength comes from fear, ignorance, a lack of self-awareness, and myriad bumps of meth.
Posted by: Rey | Aug 21, 2008 8:51:41 AM
The comments on the nola.com site reveal some details.
Apparently the killer's mother abandoned him AND the police lieutenant, who was husband number 6. The kid sounds quite fucked up (sex with underage girls, a wife of 19 with two kids, one of them his).
There are comments from neighbors and from students who loved Verrette, a very popular French teacher (sigh! -- I had a gay French teacher in HS in NO too).
And Gregv, Gretna is not a "redneck town" -- It's a suburb of New Orleans, still suffering from post-Katrina neglect. It will be interesting to see what happens in the case. Of course if it had been a black on white murder it would have been open and shut.
Posted by: Kevinvt | Aug 21, 2008 8:52:46 AM
Robbing him was either genius or the motive.
If robbery is the reason for murder, to me it isn't a hate crime. The motivation wasn't hate, it was a wallet and a cell phone.
He has confessed to murder, he won't get away with it. Having no additional details on the case I'm probably speaking out of school, but we can't label it a "hate crime" each time a gay person is murdered. Sometimes it is just a "crime" and the victim happens to be gay.
That said, I agree with THE QUEEN. Ever since the episode of "Six Feet Under" when Michael picked up the cute guy having car trouble only to have been kidnapped and nearly killed by him, my thoughts of being a good Samaritan went out the door.
Posted by: Dan B | Aug 21, 2008 9:16:45 AM
Wasn't Gretna the town that put its cops on the bridge just after Katrina to turn back the black refugees at gunpoint? That alone speaks volumes about Gretna and its leadership.
The "gay panic" defense has ben used too many times (once is too many, considering the dead person isn't able to rebut it), but juries usually reject it. I hope this piece of human filth gets sentenced to Angola...now there's a serious prison.
Posted by: Nathan James | Aug 21, 2008 9:43:30 AM
It always amazes me that so many of the people who use the so called gay panic defense have no problem stealing from their victims. It's almost like that was their plan all along. But, not that couldn't be the case.
Posted by: Cadence | Aug 21, 2008 9:47:25 AM
I will be SO happy when the women who have to put up with slimeball men coming onto them all the time at bars, start fighting back and killing those men - in - what? - "dating panic"! Sex in the City would have been a totally different movie! "Gay panic" is such bullshit!
Posted by: J.P. | Aug 21, 2008 10:28:37 AM
When lesbians start killing straight men who come on to them, the "panic" defense will no longer carry any water. Until then, our straight white legal system will continue to condone the murder of gay men.
If this kid was so "Panicked", how did he wind up with Verrette in the bedroom with a knife? Throat slashing is not a panic reaction. Stabbing someone multiple times, yes, but throat slashing (I would think) would indicate the victim was taken by surprise from behind.
And if the little queer is so afraid of homosexuality, why does he (and all the rest of the closet-case homophobes) do the one thing that will guarantee him being raped for the rest of his life (or at least until he's no longer young and "pretty")? I'm thinking he's not so tough without a weapon and when dealing with people under 50.
Posted by: MikeinSanJose | Aug 21, 2008 10:37:55 AM
Why do some of you feel it's always the older homo coming on to the young hustler? Often it's the other way around.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Aug 21, 2008 12:41:54 PM
I grew up in a small town in Texas...I have been in NYC for 10 years and have forgotten how homophobic/racist America really is. For a reality dose go to the comments section of the article on NOLA.com and see what the locals have to say...Many think that this poor man caused his own death by coming on to this thug. No one knows what happened there for sure and so many are ready to assume that because the man who helped someone out was gay...that it was totally about sex. One commenter even was happy the poor Teacher was killed. We really live in Two Americas...
here is the link: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/vagrant_murders_ehret_high_tea.html
Posted by: reacenyc | Aug 21, 2008 6:53:22 PM
I grew up in a small town in Texas...I have been in NYC for 10 years and have forgotten how homophobic/racist America really is. For a reality dose go to the comments section of the article on NOLA.com and see what the locals have to say...Many think that this poor man caused his own death by coming on to this thug. No one knows what happened there for sure and so many are ready to assume that because the man who helped someone out was gay...that it was totally about sex. One commenter even was happy the poor Teacher was killed. We really live in Two Americas...
here is the link: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/vagrant_murders_ehret_high_tea.html
Posted by: reacenyc | Aug 21, 2008 6:54:32 PM
this is a pile of crap. A woman couldn't get away with murdering someone who simply made an unwanted advance, so why can a man. Sexual orientation should have nothing to do with it. Trials like this one almost make me wish I could be hidden in the closet and on the jury to tip the scales towards decency.
Posted by: fanboi | Aug 22, 2008 2:06:35 AM
tash should be burnt not left on the street
Posted by: Dr. Pat | Sep 1, 2008 7:30:08 AM