Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/19/club-q-mass-shooter-will-never-leave-prison.html
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(And as a non-binary person, I can only posit that he’s was/is denial about it, or was trying to use that to get a lighter sentence, which is even more reprehensible.)
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Yeah, as soon as he said that I was skeptical, as was pretty much everyone I know in the community. And we tend to be pretty accepting of people telling us who they are. It was a blatant attempt to get out of hate-crime charges, IMO. A very transparent and ineffective one, since it’s entirely possible to be LGBTQIA+ and be homo/transphobic and I’m pretty sure the way the law is worded doesn’t include ‘unless you’re also queer’.
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Stop printing this asshat’s name. Let it be forgotten.
Remember the ones who acted to help save lives: Richard Fierro, Thomas James, and the trans woman armed only with her heels.
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“convictions for which he faces 2,000 years imprisonment.”
But he believes he can get the time cut in half for good behavior. 
I don’t really understand the sentence. Life without possibility of parole, fine, but another 190 years after that? They’re not going to release the body for burial until it’s rotted down to a skeleton?
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But the actual point is proportionality. So when someone else is up for a life sentence, they can’t argue that they don’t deserve the same sentence as this shooter when their crime wasn’t nearly as bad.
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I think the non- binary claim is his last- ditch nasty-ass fakery designed to hurt real trans folks. And avoid a hate crime enhancement, even though the hate crime is part of his guilty plea. I am pleased with the sentence.
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Sometimes a life sentence is interpreted as the average remaining lifespan, and once converted it can be whittled down for good behavior. So say he is 30 it might be treated as 40 years, and maybe he could get 12 off for good behaviour and be out if he lives to 58. Kick in another 190 years and it is unlikely he will live to 248 years, or cut down the other 198 with good behaviour by enough to get out before he is dead.
Even if he has been sentenced somewhere where that is not part of the legal framework for serving time nothing says over the next 40~50 years it might not get changed, so “life plus a bunch more time” can as a practical matter avoid a life sentence being converted into “less then life” by some future set of rules changes.
(also having read what chenille said that sounds like a good possibility!)
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this is small consolation to the friends and loved ones of the victims of this crime, but it is something that this person will never again breathe free air. possibly the sentence may deter some other hate-filled maniac from pulling the same stunt, although i don’t have much hope for that. what a fucked up society we are living in right now.
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Ah, I had assumed that was inherent in “without possibility of parole”
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Sometimes the rules change, like on purpose they get rid of “no parole”, so dumping enough time in reduces the chances.
I also don’t know if parole would specifically cover situations like lowering your sentence due to good behavior/etc. Parole is generally more of a ‘you can leave the prison because you’re doing well but you’re on close watch’ - a sentence without parole just means ‘you need to serve the sentence and you won’t ever get this option due to the nature of your crime’.
As Stripes mentioned, this basically helps get around that. Even if this guy goes to prison and meets every condition for early release, even if he can get half of his sentence off, it won’t help. This is in addition to the other things like proportionality/etc.
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