Joshua Cottrell, 23, has been convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter for killing Richie Phillips, 36, supposedly because as they were in a motel room (and why was that?) Phillips made sexual advances towards Cottrell, who panicked, put him in a headlock, choked him with a luggage strap, and then proceeded to stuff his body in a suitcase and throw it into a nearby lake, all to protect himself from being raped or sodomised by someone who, by the way, he was already voluntarily in a motel room with, and indeed some have charged that he lured the man to his death by pretending to want sex. He could have been convicted of capital murder. I could see that they may not have been able to prove it was premeditated. But still, his actions afterwards (taking the victims money, belongings, and vehicle, attending parties like nothing had happened, etc.) make the whole thing sound fishy. The good news is that since he is already a felon due to a conviction for auto theft, he could be sentenced as a persistent felon and get a maximum of 40 years for the various charges (he was also charged with the theft of the victim's things and tampering with evidence, also felonies).
So...if a guy comes on to a woman, can she kill him without it being murder? I mean, really, the correct response is to walk away, send them packing, or possibly give them a bloody nose or bruised testicles...not kill them and stick them in a suitcase. If things go badly, there's the novel concept of calling the law and accusing the guy of date rape. Granted, most men wouldn't make that charge, and that's a shame, because it's within their rights and they're entitled to the same protections as female victims. My point is this wasn't a situation where a stranger just came out of the bushes with murderous and rapacious intent.
I knew someone a long time ago who got his face beaten in because he picked a guy up in his car (something, in my opinion, that tends to happen often precisely because society doesn't always accept a nice couple living next door having a real relationship, rather than hanging out in skanky underworld settings), had oral sex, and then the guy (much bigger and badder) beat the living snot out of him. The story (and I am ashamed that I went along with this fiction, and even defended his stupidity to my friends) was that he was 'just giving the guy a ride'. Um. No. He wasn't. He put himself in a stupid situation because of a sexual addiction and could have easily wound up dead. And I bet you that the guy who beat him up, who oh so willingly wanted someone to service him but would never admit it, would have claimed that the guy I knew attacked him. Certainly back then (this was the 80s) he would have gotten away with it. Today, sadly, he might still. What can I say, it's a crazy world.
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