Killing Christians Not a Hate Crime

A Chicago jury has found a homosexual man guilty in the murder and rape of a 51-year-old woman who confronted the man about his lifestyle. In September 2002, Mary Stachowicz, a mother of four and a faithful Catholic church member, was found strangled, stabbed, raped, and stuffed into a crawl space under an apartment. Nicholas Guiterrez, 23, was charged with her murder, but claimed that the victim was party to blame because she had insulted him when she questioned his lifestyle choice. Peter LaBarbara, president of the pro-family group Americans for Truth, says the so-called defense was shocking and appalling. "It shows me that a very wise, a sort of a cynical homosexual criminal -- knowing that we're in a very politically correct culture which always wants to make gays be the victim -- could try the anti-Christian defense," he says. "And that's basically what they did." According to LaBarbera, the case was never prosecuted as a hate crime. Guiterrez will be sentenced December 20 when he could receive the death penalty.