This Can’t Happen Here Or Can It?

The Trans Panic Defense is banned here in Connecticut, in 2019 the legislature passed and the governor signed a bill prohibiting the use of a panic defense...

(2) No defendant may claim as a defense under this section that such mental disease or defect was based solely on the discovery of, knowledge about or potential disclosure of the victim's actual or Substitute Senate Bill No. 58 Public Act No. 19-27 2 of 4 perceived sex, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, including under circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted, nonforcible, romantic or sexual advance toward the defendant, or if the defendant and victim dated or had a romantic relationship.

It shouldn’t happen here but Washington state also has a law banning gay panic defense but it was passed in 2020 and the murder happened in 2019, so I don’t know if it can be applied to a murder before it was passed but he tried to weasel around the law claiming that she went for his gun.

Bogdanov Takes the Stand, Claims Self-Defense in Death of Nikki Kuhnhausen
The Chronicle
By Becca Robbins
August 25, 2021


David Bogdanov testified Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court that he strangled 17-year-old Nikki Kuhnhausen in 2019 while trying to keep her from reaching a loaded gun he had near the driver's seat of his car.

Bogdanov, 27, took the stand as the only witness in his defense Tuesday. He is charged with second-degree murder and malicious harassment. Prosecutors said he killed Kuhnhausen after he learned she was transgender and then dumped her body down a hillside on Larch Mountain.

The trial began last week, and prosecutors rested their case Monday. Closing statements will begin Wednesday morning.
[…]
Bogdanov and Kuhnhausen began hooking up in the back seat of his car when Bogdanov found out Kuhnhausen was transgender. He became tearful when describing sexual contact between the two of them.

He said he pushed Kuhnhausen away from him and cursed at her to get out of his car. Bogdanov said he was "humiliated" once he found out he was having sexual contact with someone who was born male. He said he would've been shunned if his family found out.

Bogdanov testified that Kuhnhausen started fighting against him after he pushed her into the passenger door of the car and said that Kuhnhausen reached toward the front seat, where he had tucked his gun.

He described attempting to pull her back away from the gun, which he said he always kept loaded. He said he'd told Kuhnhausen he carried a gun, "so she wouldn't freak out," and that he had a concealed carry permit for it. He described fearing for his life if she got her hands on the weapon.

Okay let me get this straight.

When he found out that she was trans he attacked her pushing her into the door and he reaches for the gun, she struggles to get the gun away from him and he is claiming self-defense?

KATU Ch 2 reported,

There is some dispute about the gun -- whether she reached for it and when Bogdanov became aware that she was reaching for it.
Lawyer: To your knowledge, while this was going on, Nikki had never even touched your gun, correct?
Bogdanov: While what was going on?
Lawyer: While you were having a cord around her neck.
Bogdanov: She was trying to reach for it.
Lawyer: She never actually touched that gun to your knowledge?
Bogdanov: She did.
Lawyer: Well, you said you saw afterwards the gun was moved, you didn't know that at the time?
Bogdanov: She did. I saw her reaching for the gun and the gun was not wedged between the seat anymore, it was on the seat.
Lawyer: Earlier, didn't you say that was something you noticed after she was dead?
Bogdanov: It was when she passed out and I pushed her off and I go for the gun myself and I saw it was laying on the seat.
Lawyer: So up to that point you had no idea she'd even touched that gun?
Bogdanov: I know she was going for the gun.
Lawyer: But up to that point, you had no idea she even touched it, right?
Bogdanov: I wasn't sure.

So she was struggling for her because he was trying to kill her and he is claim self-defense because she reached for his gun and he strangled her.

The closing arguments were reported in another Chronicle article by Becca Robbins.

Jurors will return Thursday to continue deliberating in the murder and hate-crime trial of David Bogdanov, who's accused of strangling 17-year-old Nikki Kuhnhausen in 2019.
[...]
During closing arguments, Deputy Prosecutor Kristen Arnaud pointed out inconsistencies in Bogdanov's testimony. She also noted that he lied multiple times to police and never told them he had to defend himself from Kuhnhausen.

Defense attorney Matthew Hoff said Bogdanov didn't tell the truth because he didn't want to tell police or his family about having sexual contact with someone who was born male. Bogdanov testified he would've been shunned if his family found out.

Arnaud told the jury Bogdanov used more force than was necessary or that a reasonable person would use when he strangled Kuhnhausen with a phone cord.

She argued Bogdanov's testimony showed the thought going through his head as Kuhnhausen fought back was that he had been deceived — not that he was fearful.

Arnaud said Bogdanov's actions made him the first aggressor, not Kuhnhausen. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes added that the teenager had as much right to defend herself from Bogdanov as he did to defend himself from her.

"Even if you don't agree with her choices, she is entitled to equal protection under the law," Arnaud said.

Bogdanov had testified that on the day of Kuhnhausen's death, he booked a one-way flight to Ukraine, and he called a friend to "get rid" of his car.

Hayes said those are not the actions of someone who has done nothing wrong.

Hoff argued Bogdanov was in emotional distress and said Bogdanov voluntarily returned to the U.S. about six weeks later.

"Nikki Kuhnhausen is not here today, not because she was transgender but because Mr. Bogdanov was put in a life-or-death situation," Hoff said.

The jury continues to deliberate the case.