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'Didn't Know He Was Gay' Broudy Accused Says
by Matt Johns
365Gay.com Newscenter in Los Angeles
October 7, 2002

West Hollywood) One of the three men charged in the beating of gay actor Trev Broudy says the attack was not a hate-crime.

In a weekend interview from his jail cell, 19-year-old Torwin Sessions said the attack was not planned and that he did not know that Broudy was gay.

Sessions told The Los Angeles Times that "We were out joyriding, looking for girls on Sunset Strip. It was so crowded that we just took that other street, and I slowed down to yield for traffic. Then everything happened."

Boudy remained in a coma for ten days following the attack. He is now undergoing physiotherapy and doctors say it is too early to tell if he will have lasting mental impairment.

The actor, who appeared in the gay film The Fluffer Broudy and his friend Edward Ulett were attacked on Sept. 1 near Cynthia Street and Hillside Drive.

On Friday the District Attorney said he was withdrawing hate-crime charges against Sessions and the other two men. Prosecutor Scott Millington said no anti-gay epithets had been used in the attack and it would be difficult to prove the crime was motivated by hate.

A conviction on the hate charges would have increased the sentences by up to 18 years in prison.

Sheriff's office investigators believe Sessions was wielding the baseball bat used in the attack. But he told the LA Times said he was driving a stolen car when his two companions suddenly jumped out of the vehicle with the bat.

"I heard the car doors slam, then I saw the dude fall down," he said. "The two guys I was with got back in the car and just said, 'Go!' Everybody in the car was just hysterical and panicking."

Sessions told the paper he did not know Broudy was gay.

"That's not why everything happened," he said, without elaborating.

Sessions, Larry Walker, 29, and Vincent Dotson, 18, have pleaded innocent to attempted robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery.

The trio is being investigated for two other attacks on gay men in West Hollywood. Hours after the attack on Broudy, another West Hollywood man was assaulted in a similar way. On Sept. 22, a 55-year-old gay man was also attacked.

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