Second Man Convicted in Slaying of Gay in Alabama

A former construction worker accused of helping kill a gay man, allegedly because of an unwanted sexual advance, was convicted Thursday of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole.

Charles M. Butler Jr., 21, was convicted in the slaying of Billy Jack Gaither, 39, who had his throat slashed and was beaten to death. His body then was burned on a pile of old tires.

The victim’s father asked that Butler not be sentenced to death.

“I can’t see taking another human being’s life, no matter what,” said Marion Gaither.

The father hoped that his son would not be remembered as a gay murder victim but as “one of the finest sons a man could want.”

The case drew national attention after authorities said Billy Gaither was killed because of his sexual orientation. President Clinton compared the Gaither slaying to the dragging death of a black man in Texas and the fatal beating of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student found tied to a fence.

The man who committed the murder of Gaither, Steven Mullins, 25, pleaded guilty earlier and testified against Butler. He was scheduled to be sentenced today, and the prosecution said it will recommend life without parole.

Butler said he had no idea that Mullins, a skinhead, planned to kill Gaither when he was asked to meet the two men one February night.

In testimony, Mullins said he decided to kill Gaither because the victim had made a pass at him. He said that he asked Butler along and that Butler knew what was to happen.

Mullins cut Gaither’s throat and, when the bloodied victim fought back, cracked his head open with an ax handle.

“I was in shock and didn’t know what to do,” Butler, wiping away tears, said Thursday about his reaction to the slaying.

But Dist. Atty. Fred Thompson alleged that Butler had numerous chances to flee from the crime or get help for the victim, and did not.

Mullins said he and Gaither had been drinking buddies until Gaither propositioned him. He testified that Butler went along with a plan to lure Gaither to a remote area Feb. 19 with the promise of a sexual threesome--something Butler repeatedly denied in his testimony.

Witnesses testifying Thursday suggested that Mullins killed Gaither to cover up what they said were his own sexual experiences with men.

Jimmy Dean testified that he had oral sex with Mullins during a party of gay men last fall in a neighboring county.

Two lesbians also testified that they saw Dean and Mullins dancing together. The women said Mullins was concerned whether anyone else from Sylacauga would see him at the party.

Gaither’s brother, William Gaither, has contended that Mullins killed his brother to keep the gay man from telling anyone that they had a relationship.