Murder of Barry Winchell

As a Private First Class, he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion 502nd Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division.

While stationed there, he received a Dear John letter from his high school sweetheart.

Winchell later accompanied his roommate, Spc.

Justin Robert Fisher, 25, and other soldiers for an excursion to Nashville's downtown bars.

A native of Missouri, Winchell enlisted in the Army in 1997 and was transferred in 1998 to Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

On July 6, 1999, Barry Winchell, a 21-year-old infantry soldier in the United States Army, was murdered while he slept outside of his barracks by fellow soldier Calvin Glover for dating a transgender woman, Calpernia Addams, after a physical altercation between the two.

The murder became a point of reference in the ongoing debate about the policy known as "don't ask, don't tell", which did not allow members of the U.S. military who were homosexual, bisexual, or even transgender, to be open about their sexual orientation.

In 1999, Fisher and others took Winchell to a Nashville club, The Connection, which featured transgender performers, where Winchell met a trans woman showgirl named Calpernia Addams.

The two began to date.

Fisher began to spread rumors of the relationship at Ft. Campbell.

Winchell then became a target of harassment which his superiors did almost nothing to stop.

Calvin Neal Glover was born in Sulphur, Oklahoma.

Justin Fisher was born in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Glover's parents separated when he was young, and he had a difficult upbringing.

He often stayed at a youth home when his family was having issues.

A psychologist later said Glover had low self-esteem and was more susceptible to alcohol abuse as a result.

She also said he was easily influenced by others since he wanted attention.

When Glover was 13, he moved in with his father.

"I saw an immediate change", his mother said.

"He was out of control. He was drinking, and he was only 13. He wouldn't stay in school, and he was flunking. He was easily influenced by older people around him. He always ran with older groups."

After Glover dropped out of school in 8th grade, his parents enrolled him in a youth counseling program.

When he was 17, Glover joined the United States Army with his mother's permission.

The harassment of Winchell was continuous until the Fourth of July weekend, when Winchell and fellow soldier Calvin Neal Glover, 18, fought after Winchell accused a boasting Glover of being a fraud.

Both had been drinking beer throughout the day.

Glover was soundly defeated by Winchell, and Fisher harassed Glover about being beaten by a fucking faggot' like Winchell". Fisher and Winchell had their own history of physical altercations as roommates in the barracks of Ft. Campbell. Fisher continued to goad Glover. Subsequently, in the early hours of July 5, 1999, Glover took a baseball bat from Fisher's locker and struck Winchell in the head with it as he slept on a cot outside near the entry to the room Winchell shared with Fisher. Winchell died of massive head injuries on July 6 at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Glover pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder for killing Winchell.

During his plea hearing, he said Fisher had goaded him into attacking Winchell and that he didn't mean to kill him.

Tearing up, Glover said "I was just so drunk ... and I had no intent for him to die. It was just a mistake, sir. ... I wasn't mad at him for any reason. I had nothing against him."

However, prosecutors decided to still take Glover to trial for premeditated murder.

During the trial, his defense claimed Fisher had goaded him into committing the murder and that it wasn't intentional.

"Fisher thought Glover would be an excellent candidate to get Pfc. Winchell", said defense attorney Captain Thomas Moshang.

"He knew that Private Glover could be instigated. He was able to work him up, provoke him to the point that Glover said, 'Yeah, I'm going to hit him with this bat. The prosecution said Glover was still responsible for his own actions and that the murder was clearly intentional. Prosecutor Captain Gregg Engler said "It's premeditated – murder without a doubt.

Glover is not a robot.

Glover took the bat and went out there and killed Winchell.

He intended to kill because of the massive, massive blows.

The first blow.

If not the first blow, the second.

He could have walked away, but he didn't. He had a choice, and he chose to kill."

He faced a mandatory life sentence, with or without the possibility of parole.

Arguing for a chance of parole, Glover's defense team pointed to his difficult upbringing, young age, and claimed that Fisher had used him as a pawn.