LGBTQ+ resources are available: abc7news.com/TakeAction. he testified. Through this fund, Sylvia Guerrero and her family spoke in middle and high schools about transgender awareness and understanding. The day after the mistrial, a judge grants a request by the mother of Gwen Araujo to legally change her name from Edward Araujo Jr. to Gwen Amber Rose Araujo. [15][16], Nicole Brown, who was dating Paul Merl (Jos's older brother) and was acquainted with Araujo, said that she and Araujo had engaged in a physical fight after Brown challenged Araujo to strip for the men. Socially Sad and Mentally Arrogant: Boys Locker Room, The AFL-CIO must end union representation of law enforcement. Gwen Araujo was born on February 24, 1985, in Brawley, California, to Edward Araujo and Sylvia Guerrero. She lost her job as a legal assistant and ended up losing her home. People are going to be hard on you, and its not going to be easy. Before Gwens death, Guerrero was a legal assistant and had a 401(k) pension account. Get Morning Report and other email newsletters. In 2005, California Gov. She was calm about it.. It was raining. But her murder is still important today. The men had claimed a gay/trans panic, a murder defense later made illegal in California in Gwens name with the help of Guerreros activism. Nabors agreed to testify against his friends in exchange for a reduced manslaughter charge. [4][5] In some contemporary news reports and during the first trial of the perpetrators, Gwen Araujo was misgendered and referred to by her deadname. The younger brother of one of three men accused of killing a Newark transgender teen testified Thursday that he had tried to rescue Gwen Araujo but had been stopped by one of the men and the. Jerry Brown, states that fear or surprise of a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity may not be used a legal defense to justify an assault. [48] During his testimony, Nabors said he felt his friends had been raped, since Araujo (whom he referred to as male) "did not come clean with being what he really was. Only charge for Nabors. When asked how she forced them, Nabors answered, "Through deception. Beto Lopez, Gwens childhood friend, remembered sneaking out of the house in their hometown of Newark to go to San Francisco Pride with Gwen in 2000. I love children. She fought like a guy. She was cremated, and her mother Sylvia Guerrero retained the urn with her ashes. On Tuesday, trans rights advocates and Gwens loved ones will gather at San Franciscos Main Library to honor her legacy on the anniversary of her murder. As they were burying her, the men continued to disparage her. Activists decry the decision as a setback for transgender rights. If it's a man, she ain't gonna leave. The four who were initially arrested and accused of the murder were Magidson (age 22); Nabors (19), Jos Merl (22), and Paul Merl. [15][29] Brown recalled that after she had left with Paul Merl, they drove around the block and returned to the house to see Nabors and Cazares leaving in Magidson's truck. When Gwen was 8, Guerrero stopped her daughter as she was getting out of the car for school and asked her if she knew she was a boy. Araujo was killed at a house party 14 years ago . The four men were outside talking and smoking when Nabors asked, "Could this be a dude?" If you or a loved one are experiencing a mental health crisis and need to connect with a qualified LGBTQ+ crisis responder. A few weeks later they also arrested Cazares. It's who she was. Analysts compared the strategy to the "gay panic" defense. East Bay native Malaika Fraley is an award-winning criminal justice reporter and formerly covered courts for the Bay Area News Group. Publicity by transgender activists was credited with informing the public about the tactics the defense lawyers had adopted to blame Araujo for her own death, changing the approach to the case. He was awakened by loud voices and eventually emerged outside his room to observe a chaotic scene. In her death, she has literally saved thousands of lives. Guerrero said. "She had no problem flirting.". [34][49] While the jury agreed that Araujo had been murdered, they could not agree whether it was premeditated. This is where I sleep now, she said, pointing to the bare floor of her sons living room. The ABC7 Originals documentary, "Being Gwen: A Life and Death Story," focuses on the struggles she faced early in life, her gender transition as a young teenager, and the tragic events in October 2002 that led to her death. Because a city this offbeat deserves a newsletter with some The case became a rallying cry for transgender rights. One of those friends was Daisy Bernal, whom Guerrero took in for three years when she was 16. [22], When Nabors and Cazares returned, Araujo was still conscious, bleeding from her head wound and sitting on the couch. Paul Merl was quickly released because his girlfriend came forward to the . But I love you, and well get through this., Guerrero wasnt just a mother and confidante to Gwen and her three other children but to anyone who needed her. I have a family. A recent family photograph shows Eddie Araujo holding his niece Arianna. "I don't want him to be identified in the rec room at Santa Rita (jail).". The jury is unable to reach a guilty verdict and the judge declares mistrial. The story of Gwen's life has been celebrated and kept alive . Gwen Araujo was a transgender teenager from the SF Bay Area who was killed 20 years ago by men who claimed they were deceived by her sexual identity. [30] Later that morning, during a phone conversation, Brown asked Jos Merl what happened, to which he replied "Let's just say she had a long walk home. That friend told someone else and the rumor of Araujo's murder eventually got back to the family who reported it to police. The 17-year-old from the San Francisco Bay Area was punched, beaten and eventually strangled to death when several men discovered she was a transgender woman. It instructed jurors not to let bias against a victim's gender identity or sexual orientation influence their decisions. Merl was granted early parole in 2016, after reportedly showing extensive remorse to Araujo's mother, who supported the decision. Writing is not a hobby, but a passion. This is the life and death story of 17-year-old Gwen Araujo. I dont have contacts anymore. I went to high school with you, and you were on the football team. The younger brother of one of three men accused of killing a Newark transgender teen testified Thursday that he had tried to rescue Gwen Araujo but had been stopped by one of the men and the prosecution's star witness, who has accepted a plea deal for his role in the death. Gwen Amber Rose Araujo (February 24, 1985 - October 4, 2002) [1] was an American trans teenager who was murdered in Newark, California at the age of 17. Just let her go. [75], In September 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill No. By this time, Araujo's mother was able to legally change her daughter's name to Gwen Amber Rose Araujo. [22] Brown testified that she warned Araujo that the men were "very angry", but upon exiting through the front door, Araujo was confronted and forced back inside the house by Magidson, Nabors, and Cazares. Eddie then began transitioning as a woman and called herself Gwen, after her favorite singer Gwen Stefani.According to court testimony, Araujo, whom the men knew a Lida, engaged in sexual . (AP Photo/Anda Chu, Pool) POOL PHOTO, Defendant Jose Merel listens to the testimony of his younger brother, Emmanuel Merel, during Jose Merel's murder trial in Alameda Superior Court on Thursday, April 21, 2004, in Hayward, Calif. Emmanuel Merel testified that he tried to push Eddie "Gwen" Araujo that he tried to push her out the door to safety in the chaos that followed the discovery that she was biologically male. Magidson, Jos Merl, Cazares and Nabors then drove four hours to the Silver Forks campground in El Dorado National Forest to buy Araujo's body. Araujo attended a party at the house Jos Merl shared with his younger brother, Manny, and his older brother Paul, who also had previously engaged in sexual acts with Gwen. Eddie then began transitioning as a woman and called herself Gwen, after her favorite singer Gwen Stefani.According to court testimony, Araujo, whom the men knew a Lida, engaged in sexual . Yet the disability benefits she originally depended on were rejected in court. He is the younger brother of Ketan, a music producer in London. At first, she didn't know how to talk about it. At a vigil later that evening at the LGBT Center in San Francisco, advocated lamented the men were not convicted of first-degree murder but still called the verdict a huge victory for the transgender rights. The men would later claim during the tr. The jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquitting Cazares and Merel of first-degree murder. [52] Serra also argued that Cazares took no active role in killing her. Today marks the tenth anniversary of the brutal murder of transgender teenager Gwen Araujo in Newark, California. Transgender activists attended the trial and condemned the strategy to blame Araujo for her own death. She transferred to an alternative high school, but did not return for the 200203 academic year. ",[20] and the men with whom she had had sexual relations became enraged and violent. On their living room sofa, Guerrero and her daughter planned out the future. Jerry Brown. "[14], The first trial ended in a mistrial on June 22 following nine days of deliberations, when the jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision for the three men. [34], One of the jurors wrote a newspaper article after the mistrial; in it, he credited Cazares's defense attorney, Tony Serra, with introducing enough reasonable doubt about the veracity of the prosecution's witnesses, including both Brown (who had admitted to consuming more than a dozen beers that night) and Nabors (who was characterized as a liar and "chameleon", prone to exaggeration and eager to please in every social situation). He took the stand Thursday afternoon -- his 21st birthday -- and described how, the first night he met Araujo that summer, he had gotten the "crazy idea" she might have been a man. For more than a decade after Gwens death, she spoke at events about her daughters murder and the struggle for trans rights at events, before taking a break of several years. Prosecutors allege they beat and strangled Araujo, 17 -- who was born Edward Araujo but lived and identified as a young woman -- in the early morning hours of Oct. 4, 2002, before burying her body in the El Dorado National Forest in the Sierra foothills. The two -- Michael W. Magidson and Jose A. Merel, both 25 -- were found guilty of second-degree murder for the death of Gwen Araujo, who was born as a male named Eddie Araujo Jr., but who . [70], Sylvia Guerrero, Araujo's mother, worked as a legal assistant at a San Jose law firm, but as of 2016 was homeless due to PTSD from the incident. 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