Gay Killer Executed Despite Protests

A homosexual man convicted of brutally murdering a teenage boy was put to death despite claims that anti-gay bias led to the execution.

Stanley Dewaine Lingar, 37, died of a lethal dose of chemicals at the Potosi Correctional Center as about 40 demonstrators protested outside the prison, said prison spokesman Tim Kniest.

Lingar was sentenced to die for the January 1985 murder of 16-year-old Thomas Allen. Lingar and David Smith abducted him and killed him after he resisted orders to strip and masturbate, law enforcement officials said.

Amnesty International and a group called Queer Watch sought to stop Lingar’s execution in part because the prosecutor presented evidence in the sentencing phase of the trial that Lingar was a homosexual, the organizations said.