Nebraska Supreme Court Hears Appeal of Meager Damages Award Against Sheriff in Brandon Teena Murder Case

(Lincoln, Nebraska, Monday, November 4, 2002) - The several-years-long battle to secure justice and accountability for the murder of Brandon Teena - a transgendered 21-year-old who was brutally raped and then killed by his rapists after law enforcement failed to intervene - reaches the Nebraska Supreme Court for the second time Tuesday, when justices will hear arguments over financial damages awarded to the victim’s mother.

“It’s tragic when any parent loses a child to violent crime, but when that crime could have been avoided had law enforcement done its job instead of reacting with hate toward the victim, it becomes an outrage,” said David S. Buckel, Lambda Legal Senior Staff Attorney representing JoAnn Brandon in the case. “Brandon Teena was devalued as a human being by his murderers. We can’t let law enforcement get away with doing the same thing.”

The state Supreme Court ruled last year in favor of JoAnn Brandon, the mother of Brandon Teena, holding Richardson County Sheriff Charles Laux accountable for his failure to protect Brandon Teena. A lower court had shifted most of the responsibility away from the sheriff - finding Brandon Teena partly responsible for his own death -- and had awarded minimal damages to JoAnn Brandon. The Nebraska Supreme Court ruling sent the case back to the lower court for a reassessment. Even though the state Supreme Court had said unanimously that the minimal damages award to JoAnn Brandon “shocks the conscience,” the lower court recently awarded just $7,000 for the emotional distress to Brandon Teena before his death and just $5,000 - less than even the funeral expenses -- for the loss to the mother. Tuesday’s arguments mark the third time the case has been appealed. In an exclusive nationally televised interview last night, JoAnn Brandon shared the pain of losing her child and then fighting for years to hold officials accountable for their actions leading to his death. “Justice for Brandon - that’s all it’s about,” she said. “He deserves justice.”

Brandon Teena was born Teena Brandon and raised as a girl. In 1993, he was living as a man in Falls City, Nebraska, when two male acquaintances discovered his physical sex and raped him. Brandon Teena reported the rape to Sheriff Laux who notified the rapists of the complaint and took no steps to protect Brandon Teena, despite strong evidence that his life was in danger. Laux was abusive and accusatory in interviewing Brandon Teena about the rape, and forbade a deputy from arresting the two rapists. Within days, the men tracked Brandon Teena down and murdered him.

In the Nebraska Supreme Court’s April 2001 ruling in the case, the justices said the sheriff’s abuse of Brandon Teena during the rape investigation was “extreme and outrageous, beyond all possible bounds of decency, and is to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community.”

Tuesday’s arguments come just days before two men accused of a strikingly similar murder in California are set to enter pleas on murder charges. Gwen Araujo, a 17-year old transgendered youth from Newark, California, was allegedly beaten, raped and then murdered after several young men at a party discovered that she was anatomically male. The men allegedly drove 150 miles into the Sierra foothills and buried her body in a shallow grave, where it was discovered about three weeks ago. One of the men pleaded innocent in the case last month, and two of them are expected to enter pleas Friday. In the weeks between the murder and the discovery of Araujo’s body, several witnesses from the party who knew what happened failed to share information with police. That case has since garnered national attention and, like Brandon Teena’s case, has raised questions about community and government response to violence against transgendered people.

“The same sense of devaluation of a person’s life and worth that caused Brandon Teena’s death is behind Gwen Araujo’s murder,” Buckel said. “Our earlier victory at the Nebraska Supreme Court sent a strong message that violence based on bias must be fully and fairly pursued. We all have an obligation to monitor the response to these crimes and make sure they’re handled seriously and aggressively - and to keep fighting for justice and fair treatment for as long as it takes.”

What: Nebraska Supreme Court argument in Brandon v. Richardson County Attorneys available following hearing

Who: David S. Buckel, Senior Staff Attorney, Lambda Legal, and Herbert J. Friedman, co-counsel, will speak to reporters in the lobby following arguments

Where: Nebraska Supreme Court, 2413 State Capitol Building, Lincoln, Nebraska

When: Tuesday, November 5, 2002. Argument scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Central

The case is JoAnn Brandon v. County of Richardson, Nebraska. S-01-001158.

Contact: Eric Ferrero, 212/809-8585 ext. 227; 888/987-1984 (pager)