A two-time murderer has had his death sentence upheld by the Supreme Court of Ohio after he attempted to appeal on the basis that his “gender dysphoria,” as well as being misgendered by the court, were mitigating factors that had not properly been taken into consideration.
Victoria Drain, previously known as Joel Drain, was sentenced to death after the 2019 murder of a fellow inmate at the Warren Correctional Institution’s psychiatric unit. Drain lured the inmate, Christopher Richardson, into his cell with the promise of sharing drugs before bludgeoning him with a fan motor.
According to court records, Drain beat Richardson with the motor until it broke before driving a pencil into his eye and using his foot to stomp it into his skull. Realizing Richardson was still alive, Drain then used the power cord of the fan motor to strangle him. Drain proceeded to stomp on Richardson’s throat multiple times.
After the crime scene was assessed, it was found that Drain had also planned to insert sharpened pencils into Richardson’s anus.
Drain admitted to the slaying, and, at the time, claimed that it had been motivated by Richardson’s refusal to participate in a separate murder plot. Drain had sought Richardson’s assistance in luring an unidentified inmate he believed was a child molester to his cell, and, when Richardson did not comply, became worried his plan would be revealed to prison authorities. Unable to murder his intended victim and concerned about repercussions, Drain targeted Richardson. Drain was sentenced to death for the slaying.
At the time of the murder, Drain was in prison for two other violent crimes.
He was serving 30-to-life for the murder of a man he beat and strangled to death, and 7 years for the non-fatal stabbing of his own father. Both crimes were committed in 2016.
In 2020, Drain submitted an appeal on his death sentence, claiming mitigating factors had not been adequately investigated or taken into consideration. Among those factors, which referenced allegations of past trauma and multiple mental illness diagnoses, were Drain’s “gender dysphoria,” and his experience having been misgendered by public defenders and the court during trial.
Drain asserted that public defenders had failed to develop “sufficient rapport” with him, and cited instances of being referred to by masculine pronouns.
“Drain contends that public defenders, although aware of Drain’s gender dysphoria, showed disrespect for her by using male pronouns and referring to her as ‘Mr. Drain,’ and failing to protest when the trial court and opposing counsel did likewise,” a Supreme Court decision document reads, using feminine pronouns to address Drain. “But Drain overlooks that … she asked Dr. O’Donnell and the defense team to use ‘masculine pronouns and naming conventions.'”
Drain was reportedly diagnosed with gender dysphoria while incarcerated, just before the 2019 murder of Richardson. Prior to his initial convictions for murder and the stabbing of his father, he did not appear to identify as a transgender “woman.”
During his death sentence appeal, Drain complained that his gender dysphoria had not been presented to the court as mitigating evidence, but Supreme Court Justice Sharon L. Kennedy, writing for the majority, noted that Drain had explicitly asked public defenders not to present such evidence on his behalf, as he had stood behind his actions.
“On the contrary, Drain made a specific point of – indeed, appears to have taken pride in – her refusal to present any ‘medical mental health excuses,'” she wrote in her decision.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in favor of upholding Drain’s execution, noting that the mitigating factors were far outweighed by the aggravating evidence.
Drain is not the first convicted criminal to use “gender dysphoria” as a defense or mitigating factor in criminal behavior.
Earlier this year, Reduxx reported that a Minnesota man who had led a far-right militia to commit a number of sexist and racist crimes had attempted to claim his actions were the result of “gender dysphoria.” Emily Claire Hari had led a militia called the White Rabbits to commit acts of domestic terror which group culminated in setting an improvised incendiary device near the Imam’s office of the Dar-al Farooq Islamic Center in Minneapolis.
During proceedings, Hari began to identify as a “woman” and asked the court to take his dysphoria into consideration. He also made a request for an amended Federal prison placement based on his identity, but appears to have been since placed in a men’s institution.
In Canada, a man who raped and assaulted multiple women is pursuing a decreased sentence on the basis of his gender identity. Jody Bourke argued that his violent past was linked to “gender dysphoria,” and is pursuing a more lenient sentence and reduction to his sex offender status.
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