Suspect claims he was fending off advances from victim
SANTA CLARA >> The defendant in the slaying of a popular Safeway butcher at a Santa Clara park contends that he was fending off his co-worker’s homosexual advances, a claim he could be barred from presenting as a legal defense in California.
Gage Taren McCartney, 25, of Sunnyvale, did not appear in a San
Jose courtroom Friday for his arraignment on a murder charge in the strangling death of 54-yearold Campbell resident Raynard Hyde. A court spokesman said McCartney was suffering from an undisclosed medical issue and will be arraigned Monday.
Hyde’s lifeless body was found in Central Park off Kiely Boulevard early the morning of July 20. According to court documents, McCartney told Santa Clara police detectives that he and Hyde went to drink at the park the previous night after a shift at the nearby Safeway supermarket on
Homestead Road, where both men worked as butchers.
Police stated that beforehand, the two had dinner at a local McDonald’s, and returned to the supermarket to buy a bottle of liquor. They were seen in surveillance footage “dancing in the video and appeared to be in good spirits and intoxicated,” police said. That was around 11 p.m., and marks the last time Hyde was seen alive in public.
McCartney reportedly told detectives that Hyde made several sexual advances toward him and that he punched and choked Hyde to keep him away. At one point, McCartney acknowledged that he “put his hands on each side of the victim’s neck and squeezed, causing him to fall to the ground,” according to court documents.
Police stated that McCartney told them “he was shocked about what happened and was furious with the victim for making sexual advances toward him” and that “his instinct took over,” but that he left the park believing he only left
Hyde unconscious.
Family and friends who appeared at Friday’s hearing declined to comment to reporters. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office also declined to comment after the hearing, citing the pending arraignment, but issued a statement saying only that there is no evidence suggesting a racial motive in the attack.
McCartney’s claims about Hyde could be immaterial if he were to use them to defend his violent response: Presenting a so-called “gay panic,” or “trans panic,” defense was formally outlawed in California in 2014, making it the first state in the United States to do so.
The ban was inspired by cases like the fatal 1998 beating of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming and the 2002 murder of Gwen Araujo in Newark, by attackers who presented gay and trans panic defenses at their trials.
Rhode Island and Illinois are the other states to have banned this type of criminal defense, and Congressional legislation has been introduced to implement a federal ban. The American Bar Association has similarly called for an end to the defense in the broader
criminal-justice system.
Because of a lack of obvious signs of trauma, Hyde’s death was not ruled a homicide until after an autopsy was performed, according to police. But early on, detectives suspected foul play and built on that suspicion after interviewing Hyde’s family and friends.
Police said Hyde “was in the company” of McCartney before he was found dead. McCartney was arrested Wednesday night at his home and booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail, where he is being held without bail.
McCartney declined a request for a jailhouse interview with this news organization.
Besides being remembered as a warm and friendly presence in the Santa Clara community where he worked, Hyde was also known for his powerful singing voice at Cathedral of Faith church in San Jose, which he attended for the past three decades. The church plans to hold a celebration of Hyde’s life.
Anyone with information about the case can contact Detective Sgt. Nick Richards at 408-615-4814.