Paul Broussard (1964–1991), a 27-year-old -area banker and alumnus, died after a incident outside a Houston nightclub in the early hours of July 4, 1991. Nine teenaged youths, ages 15–17, and one 22-year-old were on drugs and alcohol when they left a high school party in the suburb of and headed for Houston's heavily gay area in an attempt to gain admittance to dance clubs located in the vicinity.After being refused entry to several establishments, they pulled into a parking lot where they encountered Broussard and two friends, who were also intoxicated.
I completed a palliative care fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD in 2017, with a research focus in immunotherapy toxicity as well as advanced care planning in patients living with HIV.
They then attacked Broussard and his friends. Broussard was beaten and stabbed twice with a belonging to 17-year-old Jon Buice. He died several hours later as a result of both internal injuries as well as what an expert termed 'a delay in treatment' (In the early days of the crisis, police and medical personnel were slow to respond to calls from the Montrose area for fear of AIDS contamination.)When Houston leader confronted police about solving the murder, he was told that they had no intention of doing so. Gay rights advocates, frustrated about being ignored and persecuted by city officials, marched through the streets and in front of the 's home for several days in what became Houston's largest and long-lasting gay rights demonstration in history. Ultimately, the boys – labeled 'The Woodlands Ten' – were apprehended and into prison without a trial for the murder of Broussard. Contents.The attack Paul Broussard was walking across a parking lot just after 2:00 a.m., on July 4, 1991, in heavily gay neighborhood of, accompanied by his friends Cary Anderson and Richard Delaunay, when the trio encountered ten young men from: Jaime Aguirre, Javier Aguirre, Derrick Attard, Jon Buice, Chance Paul Dillon, Rafael Grable Gonzalez, Gayland Randle, Leandro Ramirez, Brian Spake, and Jeffrey Valentine.
All but Dillon attended in The Woodlands.Broussard and friends were just blocks away from home when the boys asked them for directions. The boys then reportedly exited their vehicles and attacked the men with fists, steel-toed boots, bear claws and a small wielded by Buice. While Anderson and Delaunay escaped down a busy street, Broussard was surrounded by the ten attackers. Broussard suffered abrasions, puncture wounds, a broken rib, bruised testicles, and two stab wounds. As he lay on the ground, almost unconscious, two of his attackers rifled through his pockets and took a comb as a souvenir.
The ten young men then drove off up towards The Woodlands.When staff finally arrived at the scene early on the morning of July 4, they found a wounded, but still conversant Broussard. As they prepared to transport him to Ben Taub Medical Center, the city's trauma hospital, Broussard requested to be taken to St. Joseph Medical Center as his hospital of choice.
For unknown reasons, EMS staff determined that the severity of his wounds warranted low priority transport (no lights or sirens). As a consequence, what should have been an eight-minute trip took forty minutes.
It was another hour before a doctor could be located who was willing to address Broussard's wounds. Broussard later died of internal injuries. His mother, Nancy Rodriguez, flew into Houston from, and met with Houston police as well as with Anderson and Delaunay.Protests Houston advocate went to the Houston police to find out the progress in the case. Once he learned that police had no intention of pursuing the murder, he met with television and newspaper outlets while helping to organize the largest gay rights protests in the city's history. Houston helped organize the large public protests, some of which took place in front of the 's house, with Rodriguez participating. The resulting media attention led to one of the assailants' girlfriends calling the police.Arrests and sentencing Attard went to after the attack, and was arrested there.
Buice is reported to have turned himself in after being encouraged to do so by his father. All ten were soon arrested and signed without attorneys present.
Hill lobbied the prosecutor and for 'meaningful sentences' for the attackers, dubbed the 'Woodlands Ten.' All ten of Broussard's assailants were eventually plea-bargained without the case going to trial.Attard received for agreeing to testify against the other nine. Four other boys received probation, and Rodriguez – aided by the Houston Crime Victim's Office – worked with the D.A. To set the terms. The court also ordered them to pay for Anderson's hospital bill and Broussard's funeral. Attard and Randle violated the terms of their probations and were sent to prison.
Buice, who inflicted the stab wounds, received a 45-year sentence. Dillon received a 20-year sentence for and aggravated attempted murder. The three remaining assailants received sentences of 15-years-and-one-day for their admitted participation in the beatings. Their sentences were criticized by Rodriguez and Queer Nation as being too light.Prison, parole and release Dillon was the first of the attackers to be released in March 2000, after serving just six years. He owed his freedom to a mandatory release law that was repealed in 1996. Attard, Gonzalez, Randle, Spake, and Valentine also received probation and were released. Buice, who received the longest sentence and is the last of the Woodlands Ten, was denied in October 2003, October 2005, and October 2007.
He was granted parole in July 2011, however, which was revoked for reasons that were not disclosed to him and his family. Buice's parole was denied again on October 21, 2014. Buice was ultimately granted parole in November 2015 and released to the custody of his father on December 30 under strict and intensive supervision. Rodriguez currently lives near and has attended more than 20 parole hearings in her efforts to keep her son's assailants in prison.The Guy With The Knife. This section does not any. Unsourced material may be challenged and.Find sources: – ( October 2019) In 2006, while visiting Houston to report on a story about the aftermath of, filmmaker Alison Armstrong heard about an 'unusual friendship' between Hill and Buice. She learned that after meeting with Buice and others convicted of the murder, Hill became convinced that the Woodlands Ten were not or had been on the night of Broussard's murder.
Hill reported that he began to regret fabricating the false motive after meeting and corresponding with Buice and other members of the Woodlands Ten, and began encouraging Buice to pursue his education and worked toward helping Buice win release on parole. 'I lied to get media attention to get Houston police to solve a gay murder. It was wrong, but it worked,' he told Armstrong. 'Now I'm doing what I have to do on behalf of Jon Buice.' Armstrong became intrigued with not only the unusual friendship between the two men, but also the role the media had played in all aspects of the case. Ultimately, she came to believe that the larger issue of a criminal justice system that would nine minors into the adult prison system without the case ever going to trial, should also be an element covered by the film. However, much more came to light as the project unfolded.
Armstrong's film The Guy With The Knife, uncovered a pattern of delay in responding to the gay community in Montrose by Houston first responders. Houston gay rights activist Maria Gonzalez recounted unfortunate advice that was repeated in Montrose during those years: 'If you get hurt in Montrose, get in your car and drive some place else – and then call.' In another scene, expert medical examiner Dr.
Alan Taylor amends Broussard's cause of death to include 'a delay in treatment.' Other revelations include questionable practices by the Texas penal system and an unusually closed parole process that may violate the of the accused by withholding key information.The documentary received numerous accolades from several LGBT. In early November 2015, the film was publicly screened at the LBJ School of Public Affairs in partnership with the, the Harvey Milk Society, The Center for Health and Social Policy, and The William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law. It was followed by a panel discussion including Armstrong; Gonzalez; journalism professor Michael Berryhill; and LBJ School criminal justice policy Professor Michele Deitch.Jon Buice In April 1999, Buice wrote an to the gay community apologizing and seeking to make amends for his role in Broussard's murder, which was addressed to the radio station and printed in the. Buice said he was moved to write the letter after hearing about the murder of. In a subsequent interview with a researcher, Buice said that he was not homophobic and had close friends and relatives who were gay. Buice also said that the attack had less to do with Broussard's than with thrill-seeking, male-bonding, peer pressure, and the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Some, including Buice, had also used and.According to prison officials, Buice has a spotless prison record. He has earned in and and a in.Buice was denied his parole requests in 2007 and 2009. He was scheduled to be released on parole around October 2011, but after protests from Broussard's mother as well as other gay activists, the Parole Board reversed its decision and denied Buice parole. Buice's parole was reviewed in August 2012.
He was denied again on October 21, 2014, but was ultimately granted and released on December 30, 2015 into the custody of his father, Jim Buice, under strict supervision. Buice's attempts at parole were supported by Hill, who is also an ex-convict and host of The Prison Show on KPFT.
Others also speaking on behalf of parole for Buice included Gonzalez, Berryhill, and the late crime reporter Susan Bardwell. On January 20th, 2020 Jon Buice was arrested in the Woodlands for DWI.
When Police were called to the scene, they found a silver car in the ditch with a missing tire. Buice was in the drivers seat, he was charged with driving with IntoxicatedSee also. ^ 2006-10-02 at the. ^ 2007-09-27 at the. ^.
March 12, 2015, at theExternal links. Catherine Chriss, Eric Hanson (1991-07-06). Houston Chronicle.
Retrieved 2006-09-24. Initial article in the Houston Chronicle about the Murder.
Eric Hanson, Geoff Davidian and Catherine Chriss (1991-07-13). Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2006-09-24. R.A. Dyer (1992-07-04). Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2006-09-24.
R.A. Dyer (1994-01-11). Houston Chronicle.
Retrieved 2006-09-24. Article about Jon Christopher Buice, convicted of killing Paul Broussard.
WILDWOOD, N.J. — Joe Tartamosa’s second daybreak in an ever-growing line outside the convention center in Wildwood was a lot less pleasant than his first.“It was brutal,” said Tartamosa, who spent the night in the cold, wind-whipped line with thousands of other ticket holders who were hoping to get inside for President Donald Trump’s rally on Tuesday night.
“I was probably a little ill-prepared.”He and his 16-year-old son, Nick, had left their home in Woodbury Heights, New Jersey, to arrive at 4:30 a.m. Monday to lock in a spot close to the front.He had plenty of company. About 12 hours before the rally’s 7 p.m. Start, the line had spilled past the gates arranged in switchback lanes outside the convention hall and onto nearby streets.Those at the very front of the line had arrived about 2 p.m. Sunday and had spent two days and nights bundled in blankets, “Keep America Great” flags and woolen Trump 2020 hats.Still, the mood remained festive in Wildwood, one of the Jersey Shore’s most popular destinations, where Trump was planning to hold his first political rally in New Jersey since taking office.
“He’s the only president in my lifetime who actually did what he said he was going to do,” said Russ Hickman, 55, of Dias Creek, New Jersey, who was fifth in line on Monday afternoon.Trump’s decision to stage one of his raucous rallies in Wildwood, motivated by a desire to support a local congressman who had recently switched parties, upended the usual rhythms of this beach community about 160 miles south of New York City.Seasonal workers were back on the job. Motels have reopened and restaurants and bars have awaked from winter hibernation.The LED lights on the towering Ferris wheel near the convention center have been specially programmed to pulse in patterns of red, white and blue.“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, regardless of your political view,” Nick Holland, 29, said Monday as he worked the front desk of the local recreation center.“Today I put up signs: Welcome Mr. I never thought I would do that in my lifetime,” he said.
“You can feel the energy. It reminds me of Christmas Eve, and tomorrow Santa’s coming.”. As his impeachment trial unfolds in Washington, Trump is headed into what in some ways is enemy territory. New Jersey is a Democratic stronghold where Hillary Clinton easily beat him statewide by 14 percentage points and where a so-called blue wave helped to flip four Republican congressional seats in 2018.Most of Trump’s campaign rallies have been held in states where a majority of voters supported him in 2016, and are critical battleground states before this year’s election.But Wildwood, in Cape May County, is in a district far more friendly to Republicans. It leans conservative and is represented by Jeff Van Drew, a freshman congressman who opposed impeachment and last month defected from the Democratic Party to join the Republicans with a pledge of “undying support” for Trump.In turn, the president promised to campaign for Van Drew, and the rally was announced not long after the congressman switched parties. Van Drew is expected to travel with the president to the rally at the Wildwood Convention Center, where they will both address the crowd, officials said.Trump’s supporters were invited to apply for free tickets online, but entrance into the rally will be on a first-come-first-served basis.
The convention hall can hold only 7,400, including the multitude of invited VIP Republican guests, leaving many toward the back of the line to worry that they might be watching Trump from outside, on one of two Jumbotrons set up nearby. Most Read Nation & World Stories.Hickman, who works in maintenance at the public school district in Van Drew’s hometown of Dennis, said he voted for Van Drew as a Democrat and would eagerly support him for reelection as a Republican.“I figured he was pretty much that anyway,” he said. “It just makes me pulling his lever a little easier.”Protesters — and many of the Democrats vying for a chance to unseat Van Drew — were beginning to gather for a counter rally near the ocean on Tuesday. “There’s definitely way more of a progressive movement down here than people realize,” said Shayla Woolfort, a chairwoman of Cape May County Indivisible, which is organizing a protest that the group says will include 30 other grassroots organizations from New Jersey and Pennsylvania.Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the civil rights leader, is expected to be the keynote speaker.
Several of Van Drew’s Democratic opponents, including Ashley Bennett, Will Cunningham, Brigid Callahan Harrison and Amy Kennedy, are also scheduled to address the crowd at the counter rally.“The racism, the violence, the corruption — we reject all of it,” an Indivisible organizer, Cassandra Gatelein, said of the Trump administration. “We definitely want to stand in solidarity with all the marginalized communities that he is hurting.”. Like many other people involved in the local planning for the event, Tracey DuFault, the director of the Greater Wildwood Chamber of Commerce, said the rally was an economic boon for a tourist town with a wintertime population of about 5,000. It is believed to be the first time a sitting president has ever visited Wildwood.“I think people just want to be in the area because it is such a historic event,” DuFault said.When she was in her 20s, DuFault worked for Trump at his bankrupt Atlantic City casinos, making arrangements for high-rolling gamblers. “I knew his first wife.
I knew his second wife. I did not meet his third,” DuFault said. “It was a fun job.”As head of the Chamber of Commerce, she spent the past several weeks updating and publicizing a list of businesses that still had available overnight lodging. She said about 20 hotels and motels had either reopened or booked guests on floors that are typically closed in winter in order to meet the surge in room requests.Tartamosa said he hoped the event would instill in his son some of Trump’s conservative views.“I believe in his values and what he’s doing,” Tartamosa, 43, said of the president.
“I believe it’s better than what the other side has to offer.”The Trump campaign paid $7,600 to rent the facility and will also be responsible for other costs, including increased security, said John Siciliano, executive director of the Wildwoods Tourism Authority, which operates the convention center.“It’s just a huge deal that a president of the United States is going to visit our town,” Siciliano said. Wildwood is best known for its wide sandy beaches, an expansive boardwalk and an assortment of amusement and water parks that operate on oceanside piers.At 11 a.m.
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