Prosecution star
witness testifies in Araujo case

For weeks the men had been suspicious about the biological identity of the flirty 17-year-old with the scratchy voice. Then, stoked with alcohol, they put their questions to the test with a barked-out demand: "Are you a woman or a man?" That was the story 22-year-old Jaron Nabors told jurors Monday as he began testifying in the case of three men accused of killing transgender teenager Gwen Araujo. Nabors, who was at the house the night Araujo was killed, testified that the evening began normally enough, with he and the three defendants in the case--Michael Magidson, Jason Cazares, and Jose Merel--going out to a bar and a nightclub. But things began to sour after they returned to Merel's house, where Araujo was waiting for them, Nabors said. The four met Araujo, known to them as Lida, in late summer 2002. At first they were friends, spending time at Merel's house together, drinking, smoking pot, and playing dominoes, a favorite pastime, Nabors said. But then Merel and Magidson had sexual encounters with Araujo. Suspicions grew after they compared notes. Prosecutors say Araujo, who was born a boy named Edward but grew up to believe her true identity was as a woman, was murdered in a calculated act of revenge. A previous trial ended in a hung jury last year after a defense attorney argued the case was not murder but manslaughter, a crime of passion provoked by sexual deceit--a defense that angered Araujo's family and transgender rights advocates. Nabors initially was charged with murder along with his friends. But he was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter in a deal with prosecutors. On Monday he testified that Araujo seemed astonished when her friends demanded she reveal her biological identity during the October 2002 confrontation at the Merel house in Newark, a San Francisco suburb. "She looked like she was found out, like she had a secret and she couldn't believe she just got caught," he said. The debate ended when another woman at the house grabbed Araujo's genitals, shouting, "It's a...man!" Nabors said. After that he recalls Merel doubled over, crying and saying, "I can't be...gay." Court adjourned at that point. Nabors has said previously that he saw Merel striking Araujo with a can and a frying pan and saw Magidson punch, choke, and knee her in the face. He said Araujo was later tied up and that he saw Magidson start pulling a rope toward her neck and later heard Magidson talk about twisting the rope. Defense attorneys mounted scathing attacks on Nabors's credibility in their opening statements last week. They noted that Nabors gave different stories to police when he was first contacted and described him as a manipulative liar. Lawyers for the three defendants took divergent strategies in their openings. Merel's lawyer said his client genuinely cared for Araujo and did not do her any serious injury. Cazares's lawyer said his client was outside when the killing took place and helped only to bury the body out of loyalty to his friends. Magidson's lawyer repeated his defense from the first trial--that his client was involved in the attack and regretted it but that the murder was not premeditated. (AP)