Let's talk about "Family Values"

Man accused of killing his 'gay' baby son

By Larry Buhl
Thu Jul 14, 8:42 PM ET

SUMMARY: Ronnie Paris Jr., 21, of Tampa, Florida is accused of abusing his 3-year-old son in an effort to prevent him from being gay, until the boy slipped into a coma and died.


Ronnie Paris would shake, wet himself and vomit as his father forced him into a box and repeatedly slapped him on the head in an effort to prevent him from being gay, the child's mother, Nysheerah Paris, testified Monday. The boy was 3 years old when he died from swelling on both sides of the brain on January 28.


Others backed up the mother's testimony on the first day of the capital murder trial of Ronnie Paris Jr., 21, of Tampa, Florida. Paris is accused of physically abusing the toddler until the boy slipped into a coma.


"He was trying to teach him how to fight," the boy's aunt, Shanita Powell, told the court. "He was concerned that the child might be gay."


"He didn't want him to be a sissy," Shelton Bostic, the defendant's Bible-study friend, testified.


Ronnie's death followed a history of physical abuse, according to Prosecutor Jalal Harb.


In 2002, the Florida Department of Children and Families placed the boy in protective custody after he had been admitted to the hospital repeatedly for vomiting, the Tampa Tribune reported. He was returned to his parents Dec. 14, five days after his third birthday. The boy slipped into a coma on Jan. 22, and was taken off life support six days later.


But it wasn't until the boy's mother was questioned by investigators on Feb. 1 that she talked about the abuse. She is charged with felony child neglect, which carries a possible 15-year prison sentence.


Although the defense so far has tried to shift the blame to the mother, it is possible that the father's "gay panic" defense might come into play, especially after witnesses tried to explain the father's motive. If Paris' lawyers try that, it would "bring the gay panic defense to a whole new level of absurdity," according to Brian Winfield, spokesman for Equality Florida.


"It is almost an impossibly that a 3-year-old toddler would be expressing sexuality," he told the PlanetOut Network. "It may have been that the child was not masculine enough. We've found that gender expression is more often the motive behind bashing (of gay adults)."


And a jury would probably shoot down such a defense, Winfield said. "Juries in even the most conservative states reject gay panic as a defense for murder." In this case, it is even likelier to fail, he continued. "There can be no good reason for beating a child to death."