GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

JUNE 11, 1993

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Sailor sentenced to life

for killing gay shipmate

by Peter Landers

Yokosuka, Japan-Allen Schindler's mother sobbed "Thank you, thank you" on Thursday after her son's shipmate was sentenced to life in prison on charges stemming from his death.

Terry Helvey, 21, of Westland, Mich., was impassive as a military jury sentenced him for beating Allen Schindler to death in a public restroom Oct. 27 near their ship's home port in Sasebo in southern Japan.

"I felt that the only fair sentencing was life imprisonment," Schindler's mother, Dorothy Hajdys, said later.

"This life sentence sends a message that homophobic violence will be punished by the U.S. military," said Michael Petrelis, of Queer Nation.

Official documents released after the trial said the victim's gayness was one reason for Helvey's malice. The Navy documents describe Helvey's denunciations of gays to friends and how he stalked Schindler and stomped on his unconscious body.

Among them were testimony in November by Helvey's friend, Charles Vins of Sturgis, Mich. He said Helvey "talks about kicking homosexuals' asses a lot."

At the trial, Helvey denied that he killed Schindler because the victim was gay. He also sought mercy with a last-minute apology and a description of his abused childhood.

Navy special investigator Kevin Privette testified earlier that when he questioned Helvey shortly after his arrest, he asked Helvey to describe his feelings about gays and said Helvey replied he "hated them." Another proseution witness said that two days after the fatal beating, Helvey stated he had no regrets and would do it again. Other testimony indicated that Helvey's use of steroids contributed to the violence of the attack, as well as heavy drinking that night.

The sentence was the maximum allowed after Helvey pleaded guilty in May to assault with intent to commit great bodily injury in the killing, in order to avoid a possible death sentence for premeditated murder.

Vins, who also delivered non-fatal blows, served four months in jail under an agreement to give evidence against Helvey.

Petrelis accused the Navy of covering up the gay-bashing issue during the trial.

But the Navy said that it was constrained by confidentiality requirements and could not make public critical documents-including an official account of the attack— until the trial was over.

The account, signed and agreed to by all parties including Helvey, said Helvey "dislikes homosexuals." Helvey had resented Schindler because he felt Schindler was trying to "boss him around" aboard the USS Belleau Wood. The ill will increased when Helvey found out Schindler was gay, it says.

Schindler, 22, had told superiors the month before his death that he was gay, and was undergoing discharge from the Navy.

Another gay-bashing death?

The sentencing came as Japanese officials prepared murder charges against a U.S. Marine in Okinawa suspecting of killing a Japanese man in April. A May 25 report in the San Diego Union-Tribune said the victim may have been gay.

Pfc. Christopher A. Glidden, of New Castle, Pa., has admitted striking Seiyu Yokota on April 11, following a night of drinking in the town of Kin. Glidden claims Yokota, a carpenter, made passes at him.

About 40,000 U.S. servicemen and women are stationed on Okinawa. Five people, including Yokota, have been killed in Kin by U.S. personnel in the last five years.

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Bias, lack of quality in Navy probes questioned

by Carolyn Skorneck Washington Terry Helvey's guilty plea and sentencing in the death of Allan Schindler has prompted the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a gay rights lobbying group, to ask Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the Naval Investigative Service.

"The Tailhook scandal and the Navy's investigation into the USS Iowa explosion, in which they attempted to blame the explosion on a sailor they claimed was gay, lead us to believe that the Naval Investigative Service is more interested in assigning blame and avoiding embarrassment than in finding the truth," HRCF director Tim McFeeley wrote in a letter to Reno. "We believe an outside investigation is warranted."

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said it was reviewing the request, said department spokeswoman Obern Rainey.

Helvey's guilty plea "clears the way for an impartial outside investigation of the Navy's irresponsible conduct during the period before and after the Schindler murder," wrote McFeeley.

In addition to investigating the murder, McFeeley said, he wants the Justice Department to investigate "other incidents of violent attacks against personnel aboard the USS Belleau Wood," Schindler and Helvey's amphibious assault ship, stationed in Sasebo, Japan.

"Schindler himself told friends of an incident where a young gay sailor had lighter fluid poured on him and was set on fire because of his sexual orientation," McFeeley said.

McFeeley said it is "essential to investi-

gate the conduct of naval personnel on board the Belleau Wood before and after the murder and the potential cover-up conducted by naval personnel."

Schindler's mother, Dorothy Hajdys, was told of her son's death in a letter that said he "had suffered damages to his head after falling in a fight," McFeeley wrote.

Her repeated attempts to find out what happened "were rebuffed, until the media and activists drew attention to the circumstances surrounding the murder."

Dallas police end gay ban

Dallas Candidates for the Dallas police department will no longer be summarily rejected because they are gay or lesbian.

Dallas has been the nation's only large city to specifically bar gay officers, but city officials now say they won't fight recent court decisions that held the city's ban to be unconstitutional.

"We no longer inquire of applicants about whether they have violated [Texas' sodomy law]," Sgt. Jim Chandler, a police spokesman, said Thursday. The constitutionality of the law is being reviewed by the state supreme court. A lower court struck it down in a 1992 decision resulting from a lawsuit by Mica England, who had been told by the city she could not be a police officer because she was in violation of the law.