Murder of Jason Gage

Jason Gage was a 29-year-old gay man living in Waterloo, Iowa, who worked as a waiter and was enrolled at the College of Hair Design. Originally from Oelwein, Iowa, he had previously lived in Chicago and Milwaukee before settling in Waterloo, where he resided in the Russell-Lamson building.

On the night of March 11, 2005, Gage was socializing with friends at downtown Waterloo bars, including the gay club Kings & Queens and an after-hours venue called The Times Bar. He was with 23-year-old Joseph Lawrence, whom he had recently been introduced to through a mutual acquaintance, Elizabeth Hostetler, Lawrence's pregnant girlfriend. Gage and Lawrence left together and returned to Gage's apartment. In the early hours of March 12, phone records show Lawrence sent text messages to friends, including one reading "I just killed a guy I think." A later phone call with a friend in New Mexico suggested Lawrence may not have realized at that point that Gage was dead.

Gage's body was discovered by police on March 14, 2005, after friends grew concerned when he failed to show up for work and had not been seen for three days. He had been bludgeoned with a bottle and stabbed in the neck with a shard of glass; an autopsy determined he died of severe head injuries, and his body showed no defensive wounds. Lawrence was arrested and charged with murder hours after the discovery. In a videotaped statement and police affidavit, Lawrence admitted to hitting Gage twice with a bottle and stabbing him with glass. Hostetler stated that Lawrence told her Gage had made sexual advances toward him, which she offered as a motive, while maintaining "this was not a hate crime."

Because Iowa law at the time did not define a separate hate-crime murder charge based on sexual orientation, prosecutors instead included a charge theory that Lawrence committed murder while carrying out an assault in violation of a state statute barring bias-motivated assault, vandalism, and trespass.

Gage's death drew comparisons in national press coverage to the killing of Matthew Shepard and prompted the Waterloo Human Rights Commission to push the City Council to add sexual orientation protections to the city's human rights ordinance; Waterloo's mayor condemned the killing but did not take a position on the ordinance change. The community held vigils, a well-attended funeral, and a benefit that established a scholarship in Gage's name — the benefit was also picketed by members of the Westboro Baptist Church and a second group, Consuming Fire Campus Ministries.

On December 16, 2005, Lawrence entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder, avoiding an admission of guilt while acknowledging the state's evidence would likely have convicted him at trial. He waived his right to appeal and agreed to pay a $150,000 civil penalty to Gage's estate. Judge Bruce Zager sentenced him to the mandatory 50 years, of which he must serve at least 35 years (70 percent) before parole eligibility.