Robinson wants D.A. to prosecute attack as hate crime, hopes new  community organization can help make Cedar Springs area safer

Michael Robinson, right, the lone eyewitness to a brutal gay-bashing in July in Oak Lawn, has since founded a grassroots organization called United Community Against Gay Hate Crimes. Robinson has enlisted the help of Daniel Williams, center, operations director for the Dallas Peace Center; and Don Sheets, owner of Crossroads Market. - JOHN WRIGHT/Dallas Voice

In the days following a brutal gay-bashing in Oak Lawn this July, the lone eyewitness vowed not to let the crime be quietly forgotten.

Three months later, Michael Robinson is fulfilling that promise.

Robinson, who’d been walking alongside victim Jimmy Lee Dean just prior to the attack, recently launched a grassroots organization called United Community Against Gay Hate Crimes.

Robinson said UCAGHC, which has met weekly for the last few months at Crossroads Market, will stage a public demonstration Friday, Oct. 17 on the Cedar Springs strip. Robinson said the demonstration is designed to raise awareness about UCAGHC and protest a decision by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office not to prosecute Dean’s attack as an anti-gay hate crime.

“How many more people have to get hurt before we decide that these are hate crimes?” Robinson said recently. “I just don’t feel like as a society or community we need to wait for somebody else to get hurt in order for the message to be carried. I think there’s enough down here happening to merit that.”

While efforts are currently focused on Dean’s case, Robinson said this is only the beginning for UCAGHC.

He talked about working with business owners, police and city officials to make Oak Lawn safer, and he wants to establish a volunteer patrol to escort people from the Cedar Springs strip to their homes and cars. He said UCAGHC will also host forums to educate people about anti-gay violence, serve as a resource for gay crime victims, and lobby elected officials to pass and enforce hate crimes laws.

“We need to be an organization that the community can put their hands on,” Robinson said.

Dean, who’s still recovering from the attack, said this week he plans to participate in Friday’s demonstration. Dean spent 10 days in the hospital after the incident and is scheduled to undergo major reconstructive surgery on his face.

Dean was severely beaten and pistol-whipped in the early morning hours of July 17 in the 3900 block of Dickason Avenue, just a few feet from a parking lot serving Dallas’ largest gay nightclubs.

The suspects in the attack — Bobby Jack Singleton and Jonathan Russell Gunter, both of Garland —are awaiting trial on charges of aggravated robbery.

Singleton and Gunter reportedly yelled anti-gay epithets before, during and after the attack, and police said Singleton and Gunter admitted they felt it would be easier to rob a gay man.

Police classified the incident as a hate crime for reporting purposes. However, the DA’s Office reiterated this week that it has no plans to file a hate crimes enhancement in the case.

Prosecutors have argued that a hate crimes enhancement would not result in additional prison time for Singleton and Gunter, but could create an additional burden of proof at trial.

“Obviously people have the right to assemble and freedom of speech, but this office is going to continue to pursue cases based on the evidence and the facts of the case and not based on public opinion,” said Jamille Bradfield, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office.

Friday’s demonstration is set to begin at 7 p.m. at Crossroads Market, 3930 Cedar Springs Road.

Robinson said participants will walk down either side of the strip before traveling to the site of Dean’s attack.

For more information about UCAGHC, call Robinson at 214-520-2074 or e-mail s_michael10@yahoo.com.






This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 17, 2008.