MONTPELIER Sen. Patrick Leahy has a decision to make, and everyone’s waiting.In the coming months, the 81-year-old Vermont Democrat is expected to disclose whether he will seek a ninth term in the U.S. Senate or step down. The retirement of the.
More change is coming to the State Board of Education. John Carroll, its chairman, announced he will step down at the end of June. And legislation now headed to the governor’s desk will require that the 11 board members come from more diverse.
Vermont Gov.
Phil Scott (R) signed legislation on Wednesday that bans the use of the so-called “gay panic” defense in courts of law.
“With this legislation, Republicans, Democrats and Progressives alike send a message to Vermonters–that your identity should never be an excuse for someone to cause you harm,” the two-term Republican said in a message upon signing the historic legislation. “What this bill does is make sure a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity can’t be used to defend or justify a criminal act, or lower a sentence.”
The defense is a legal strategy used by a defendant on trial for a violent crime in which they typically seek to supplement a temporary insanity defense by arguing that an unwanted advance from a gay person led them to such a state of rage that they admittedly committed a violent crime, up to and including murder.