Jimmy Lee Dean

Jimmy Lee Dean, 42, is a bisexual man from Oak Lawn, TX, who was attacked and beaten while walking home with a friend on July 16, 2008, by two men who yelled anti-gay epithets during the attack.

Jimmy Lee Dean

Dean, a native of Cincinnati, had lived in Dallas for about 20 years, and had lost contact with his family. Dean worked as a freelance web designer, but his true love is music and playing his guitar, and his goal is to open a home recording studio to help other artists cut demos.Around midnight on July 17, Dean left Alexandre's — one of two gay bars he'd been to that night — and began walking back towards his apartment complex 50 yards away. Michael Robinson, a 48-year-old gay man and car salesman, walked out of Zini's Pizzaria around the same time. He encountered Dean, who was walking in the same direction, and the two struck a conversation.¹⁾

Near the corner of Throckmorton Street and Dickerson Avenue, they passed Bobby Jack Singleton, 26, and Jonathan Russell Gunter, 31, walking in the opposite direction. Dean gave them a nod, having recalled seeing them there before, and kept walking.²⁾ Singleton and Russell doubled back and came up behind Robinson and Dean. Robinson turned to confront them.

Michael Robinson

A verbal exchange occurred between the parties, and Robinson urged Dean to keep walking. When Singleton and Russell got between him and Dean, Robinson ran to his apartment one block away and retrieved a kitchen knife. When he returned, Dean lay on the ground with Singleton and Russell kicking him, stomping his face and yelling things like “you gay ass motherfucker, punk-ass bitch,” according to Robinson.³⁾

Russell and Singleton

Singleton and Russell attacked Dean, pistol-whipped him with a 9mm Glock handgun, as well as kicking and stomping his head, face, and body. Witnesses said that Singleton and Russell used anti-gay epithets before, during, and after the attack.⁴⁾

When Robinson approached with the knife, the one of the men pulled the gun on him that they'd used to beat Dean. Distracted, they began walking a way from Dean. Norman Draper, 26, a heterosexual passing motorist acting as designated driver for some gay friends, saw Singleton and Russell pass behind his car on foot, and saw Dean lying in the street. Draper left his vehicle, put flares on the road, and called 911. A former security officer and Police Explorer, he used latex gloves to retrieve the gun that Singleton and Russell had tossed into some high grass, as well as a bloody knife lying next to Dean.⁵⁾ Singleton and Russell were apprehended at the scene by security guards from the nearby clubs. They were arrested and held on bail; $300,000 for Singleton, and $300,500 for Russell.⁶⁾ They were charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, because investigators recovered a set of keys and a Zippo lighter from them, which belonged to Dean.⁷⁾

Dean was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. He suffered a broken jaw and vertebrae, as well as facial fractures and swelling. Witnesses at the scene said that after the beating, Dean's nosed was attached only by a piece of skin. His injuries were so bad that police were unable to interview him for days after the attack.⁸⁾

Singleton and Russell later admitted to police that they'd targeted Dean because they thought it would be easier to rob a gay man.⁹⁾

On July 31, the Dallas County prosecutors announced that they would not seek hate crimes charges against Singleton and Gunter. Dallas police plan to categorize the attack as a hate crime for statistical purposes. Prosecutors, however, decided not to pursue hate crime charges because Singleton and Gunter already face the maximum penalty — up to 99 years — if convicted. Texas law dictates that a hate crimes designation is made during the sentencing face of a trial, after conviction.¹⁰⁾