Gay man's killer could serve as little as eight months in prison

(H/T Nick Cargo at Page One Q.)

The mother of a gay murder victim is calling on advocates to help convince her state's parole board not to let her son's killer out of prison before serving his full sentence.

Sean William Kennedy, 20, was attacked in the early morning of May 17, 2007 outside the former Brew's Bar in Greenville, South Carolina. His assailant, Stephen Andrew Moller, pulled up in a car, threw one punch after reportedly yelling anti-gay slurs, and fled. Kennedy died about 17 hours later from the brain injury he sustained, and friends and family believe he was targeted at least in part due to his sexual orientation.

Since South Carolina has no hate crime statute, no enhancement was available for Moller's June 2008 sentence of five years in prison on a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter. The judge reduced the sentence to three years with credit for seven months' time served and ordered Moller to seek help to manage anger and substance abuse.

"This shockingly short sentence sends the message that it is OK to attack and kill people just because you don’t like who they are," Elke Kennedy wrote in an October Op/Ed. "Justice was not done for my son."

While Moller's attorney said after the sentencing that he was unaware Kennedy was gay at the time of the assault, a text message received from a friend shortly after the incident stated: "You tell your faggot friend that when he wakes up he owes me $500 for my broken hand."

Elke Kennedy, founder of Sean's Last Wish, has been a vocal LGBT advocate and active campaigner for hate crime laws since her son's death. As Mr. Moller could be eligible to be released from prison as early as this February, Kennedy is calling upon the public to appeal in writing to South Carolina's parole board.

"Please consider writing a letter to the parole board and ask them to deny Stephen Moller parole and serve out his sentence," Kennedy wrote. "In your letter, please remind the board of the violent and unprovoked nature of Moller's offense and the pain and suffering it has caused in the lives of Sean Kennedy's family and friends."

Letters can be sent to:

Department of Probation Pardon and Parole Services
2221 Devine Street, Suite 600
PO Box 50666
Columbia SC 29250

Reference: Stephen Andrew Moller, SCDC ID #00328891

Regardless of the parole board's decision, Moller will be released from prison by September of this year.