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 Appeal Denied In Brandon Teena Murder
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: October 17, 2007 - 11:00 am ET
(Falls City, Nebraska) A judge has turned down a
motion for a new trial for one of the two men convicted in the 1993 murder of
trans teen Brandon Teena (pictured).
John Lotter is on death row for the murders of Teena
and two others.
The killings led to the award-winning 1999 film,
"Boy's Don't Cry''.
Lotter applied for a new trial last month after
Lotter's partner in the murders, Marvin Nissen, said he was the only attacker
and that he had shot and stabbed all three. (story)
Nissen is serving a life sentence. During his
trial Nissen blamed Lotter for carrying out the murders. Nissen at the time said
he had stabbed Brandon but that Lotter fired all the shots that killed Brandon
and the others.
Nissen made the admission of full guilt last
month in a sworn affidavit that was used in Lotter's motion for a new trial.
The motion was opposed by state Attorney General Jon
Bruning.
The December 31, 1993 killings galvanized Falls
City, Brandon's hometown, and for the first time put a national spotlight on the
plight of the transgendered. Following the release of "Boy's Don't
Cry'' trans people began to actively organize, leading to the first civil rights
laws for trans citizens.
Teena was a female to male pre-op transsexual and
had been living as a male for several years.
In December, 1993 he went to County Sheriff
Charles Laux and reported he had been raped by two men, John Lotter and Marvin
Nissen, after they discovered he had been born female and still had female
organs. Teena had been dating a female friend of Lotter's at the time.
Laux refused to investigate. A week later
Teena was murdered by the pair who also killed two people who witnessed the
killing.
Lotter and Nissen were eventually charged, tried,
and sentenced, but not before the nation became gripped by the brutality of the
case and the indifference of authorities.
An appeal by by Lotter was rejected by the
Nebraska Court of Appeal in 2003.
©365Gay.com 2007
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