Southern Voice
Jury acquits gay man in Dawsonville park sex sting
Defendant claims 'coerced' by police; similar cases prompt lawsuit in Tenn.
by Dyana Bagby
dbagy@sovo.com
When Shannon Wayne Phillips of Gainesville decided to take a stroll at Thompson Creek Park in Dawsonville, he didn't know he was going to be the object of a sex sting operation being conducted by the Dawson County Sheriff's Department.
Phillips, 40 said he simply wanted to take a walk in the park at about 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 4 when a man approached him and the two struck up a conversation. Gainesville is located about 23 miles west of Dawsonville.
"I went into the park to take a walk and I met someone. We talked for a while and then I walked off. Then he came back up to me, so I asked him if he was gay. And he said he was bisexual," Phillips said. "We talked, but I had no intention of doing anything with him there. I did want to meet him later. I was coerced by officers, profiled for being a gay man in a park."
The undercover officer alleged in a police report that Phillips eventually propositioned him for oral sex, for which he was charged with solicitation, and also brushed his leg, resulting in a simple assault charge. Both charges are misdemeanors.
"Phillips wanted Sgt. [Time] Murdock to walk into the woods as he began to turn away. Phillips grabbed his crotch area twice and deliberately turned and faced Sgt. Murdock while doing both acts," the report states. "Phillips advised Sgt. Murdock that he wanted to perform oral sex."
"I told him I"m gay, I'm open about it, but that I have a grown son and a granddaughter," Phillips said this week.
After the undercover officers working together in the park arrested Phillips for alleged solicitation and simple assault, they searched his vehicle and found half a smoked marijuana joint, and he was also charged with a misdemeanor drug possession.
I'm guilty of that [drug possession for which he is now on probation], but I was not guilty of the other charges," Phillips said.
So, Phillips did what not many men caught in similar circumstances do - he decided to take his case to court and have a jury trial in Dawsonville County State Court.
On Sept. 16, the jury found Phillips not guilty of solicitation and not guilty of simple assault.
"My guy was straightforward and told the jury he [the officer] was a good looking man and went into the bathroom to make plans to hook up with him later," said Phillips' defense attorney Clay Thompson.
"But he had no intention of doing anything at the park. Jurors are more smart than in the past - just because they may not believe in [homosexuality] that doesn't mean the state can't meet its burden of proof," Thompson added. "We reminded the jury he was openly gay. He was very forth-right with who he was."
Thompson, a former Cobb County prosecutor, said his client simply believed a bisexual man was hitting on him in the park after they carried on a casual conversation about family and even low lake levels caused by the drought. After the undercover officer kept approaching him and told Phillips he was bisexual, Phillips assumed the two could meet later.
"The way the officer was egging him on though ... my client was walking away and the officer came up back to him," said Thompson of Marietta.
"I just have problems with ways officers handle these cases. I told the jurors that if this had been a female saying the same thing [during a casual conversation] - I would love to know if they would have arrested her then ... with these cases, they need to enforce against both sexes."
As a former prosecutor, Thompson said he knows that most men in Phillips' situation choose not to take their cases to court or testify, instead motivated by shame to plead it out and likely get sentenced to no jail time and probation.
"He's comfortable with who he is and said from day one he did not want to plead it out," Thompson added.
However, Phillips did spend four days in jail after he was arrested while awaiting bond.
"He exercised his right to a trial and they totally believed him," Thompson said of the jury. "I applaud them. I'm tickled they followed the law. It's obvious what the officers were saying wasn't happening."
Dawson County District Attorney Lee Darragh said the undercover operation was launched at Thompson Creek Park because of past complaints and more sting operations may take place in the future if necessary.
"There have been cases in that park in the past, but the jury decided in this case he was not guilty," Darragh said, declining further comment.
On Sept. 30, Lambda Legal fined a federal lawsuit in Tennessee against Johnson City and its police chief on behalf of Kenneth Giles, who was one of 40 men arrested by the Johnson County Police Department in a public sex sting operation and then had their photographs released to the public.
"In America, the police do not get to add an extra punishment to people they don't like," said Greg Nevins, supervising senior staff attorney in Lamdbda Legal's Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta, in a statement. "They also do not get to ignore the principle of innocent until proven guilty. The JCPD went out of its way to humiliate Mr. Giles and caused irreparable damage."
In an Oct. 1, 2007, press release approved by the police chief, the JCPD included photos of the 40 men arrested at the scene of a public sting operation. Local media ran the photos of the men, including their addresses.
After reviewing some 600 other press releases from the JCPD, Lambda Legal determined no other photos of suspects had been released. According to Lambda Legal, of the 40 men, one has committed suicide and several lost their jobs. Giles was fired from his job as a nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital.
"I don't understand how the police department can release photos of one group and not any others," said Kenneth Giles in a statement. "I lost my livelihood because my arrest was treated differently."
The recent actions of the JCPD are part of an ongoing history of police officials taking blatantly discriminatory actions against gay men to humiliate and harass them, according to Lambda Legal.
