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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyDecember 13th, 2011
TODAY’S BIRTHDAY:
Allen R. Schindler, Jr.: 1969. When “little Allen” was growing up, his step-father regaled him with stories of surviving the sinking of the battleship USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor. And so when he decided to enlist in the Navy on turning eighteen, it came as no surprise to his mother. He was ecstatic to learn that he would be assigned to the aircraft carrier Midway, but in 1991 he was transferred to the Belleau Wood, a smaller ship with a reputation for poor discipline. On October 27, 1992 while on shore leave in Sasebo, Japan, two drunken shipmates from the Belleau Wood followed Schindler into a public restroom in a park. Airman Charles Vins watched — and occasionally joined in — as Airman Apprentice Terry Helvey kneed Schindler in the arm, punched him repeatedly on the floor, and stomped on him with the heel of his boot. The pathologist described Schindler’s body as the worst case he had ever seen, and compared the damage to that of a “high-speed auto accident or a low-speed aircraft accident.” He also said that it was worse than another case he had seen, that of a man who had been trampled to death by a horse. The pathologist’s report chronicled a litany of lacerations, contusions and abrasions of the forehead, eyes, noes, lips, chin, neck, Adam’s apple, trachea, lungs, liver (which was “like a smushed tomato”) and, tellingly, penis. All but two ribs were broken, and both his lungs and brain had hemorrhaged. The only thing recognizable about Allen’s body was a tattoo on his right arm, of the USS Midway.
The Navy stonewalled the investigation. The murder occurred just as the pre-DADT debate was getting started over allowing gays to serve in the military. The Navy refused to confirm how Schindler died or whether a weapon was involved. At one point, a Navy senior officer leaked the story that Schindler’s murder was the result of a romance with Helvey gone bad. Meanwhile, Schindler’s mother, Dorothy Hajdys, was kept in the dark by Navy officials about what happened to her son or about the investigation. Her journal told the story: “Oct. 30: Heard nothing. Nov. 1: Sill heard nothing.” Meanwhile, the Navy tried Vins without her knowledge and sentenced him to four months in the brig. All the information Dorothy received about her son’s case came from the press. That’s how she learned her son was gay and had been killed by his shipmates in an anti-gay orgy of violence. “If one more reporter calls me with information before you do,” she told the Navy commander in charge of the case, “you haven’t even heard me scream!” Two months after the murder, Navy officials finally admitted that Schindler had been killed in a gay bashing.
The Navy denied that they had received any complaints of harassment. But as the investigation continued, it was slowly revealed that Schindler’s ship, the amphibious assault ship Belleau Wood, was a living nightmare for him. His locker had been glued shut and he was the brunt of frequent comments, like, “There’s a faggot on this ship and he should die.” Schindler requested a separation from the Navy, but his superiors insisted he remain aboard ship until the process was finished. During Helvey’s trial , it was revealed that Helvey told one investigator that he had no remorse for the killing. “I don’t regret it. I’d do it again. … He deserved it.” After confessing to the murder, he wrote in a four page statement, “Homosexuality is disgusting, sick and scary and I hate homosexuals.” When the investigator suggested that he might want to consider expressing remorse, he wrote, “I regret this incident happened and I feel like it could have been averted had homosexuals not been allowed in the military.”
Helvey avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty to “inflicting great bodily harm,” and was sentenced to life in prison. The ship’s captain who had tried to keep the crime quiet was demoted and transferred to Florida. Dorothy, virtually overnight, became a fierce advocate for hate crime protections and for gays being allowed to serve in the military. Helvey is still serving his lifetime sentence. In 1994, two years after the murder, he still had no regrets. He told a reporter:
We were just doing the Navy thing … We were drinking and fighting. It happened so many times, I can’t count them. That’s all we ever did was drink and fight. I was having fun and this dude ended up dying.”
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JohnAGJ
December 13th, 2011
Since the last report linked here is now 17 years old, it would be interesting to hear what Helvey has to say now. He should be in his 40s and after so long in prison some of that cockiness of youth should have faded away. I’d really be interested to know what he thinks about the repeal of DADT. I hope it galls him.
jpeckjr
December 13th, 2011
I remember when this was in the news and appreciate you helping us remember Allen Schindler.
Regan DuCasse
December 13th, 2011
I’m actually surprised his killer is still in prison.
The two humps that murdered Barry Winchell, I know one has been paroled already. Or was eligible for it. There are only a couple of cases where in RECENT history where the killers of gay men got life sentences. NOT the death penalty, which frankly my friends, they deserve.
Schindler’s pathology result was considered similar to a high speed car crash or low speed plane crash.
However, in the instances of these deaths in vehicles, death comes much, MUCH more quickly. Your brain and body don’t have the opportunity to build up adrenaline, nor a nerve response that can REGISTER the pain.
In the event of a beating, with feet in particular, the pain and andrenalized response to such a prolonged attack is very different. As a matter of trying to help the body survive, certain types of chemical changes occur prior to shock, but for the victim, a beating death is right up there with one of the absolute worst ways to die. Especially if most of the force is to the core section of the body first and not the head first (as in the case of Barry Winchell).
All my time at school and learning the pathological dynamics of violent death, has helped me understand why killers deserve the death penalty. Most decent people can’t imagine someone is THAT out of control on an INNOCENT person. They think that prison is bad enough, because they feel they couldn’t personally endure it.
But that’s not really the way to understand the kinds of processes that occur in a criminal mind.
And rehab really isn’t possible. Indeed, some mental and emotional pathology in the criminal, worsen with age.
Dangerous people, really never stop being that way.
I wish the public understood that better.
Priya Lynn
December 13th, 2011
Regan, its easy for me to say I’d like to see the death penalty in this case but what holds me back is what about in case where for example a father kills the man that molested his child? What about the situation in one state where a number of years ago it was found there were more innocent people on death row than people who hadn’t been found innocent?
I’ve had people say “Finding innocent people on death row proves the system works.” but what they don’t take into consideration is that in the vast majority of such instances where a person is found to be innocent by DNA evidence they were convicted on the basis of faulty eye-witness testimony. In many such convictions there is no DNA evidence so unless one is making the argument that wrongful convictions only occur where there is DNA evidence to later show the error its obviously incorrect to say the finding of innocence on death row proves the system works – its a certainty that some innocent people have been executed.
There’s also the case where the U.S. supreme court ruled that death row inmates don’t have a right to have DNA evidence tested that might exonerate them. There have also been cases where the prosecutor at the time of the trial or during appeals withheld evidence that would have shown the accused was innocent, but to them it was far more important to pretend the system is infallible than to prevent the execution of an innocent man. The ironic part of it is that republicans like Perry who support the death penalty and limiting peoples rights to overturn wrongful convictions will argue till the cows come home that the government is incompetent yet somehow miraculous suggest that when it comes to trials the government is infallible.
Yes, I’d support the death penalty too, in such cases, if it was always a certainty that the judgment was perfect. That it can never be and is frequently wrong is why I will always oppose the death penalty.
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