Licensed to Kill (1997 film)

Licensed to Kill is a 1997 documentary written, directed, and produced by Arthur Dong, in which Dong, a gay man himself, interviews various murderers known for their homophobic murders.[1]

Licensed to Kill
Directed byArthur Dong
Written byArthur Dong
Produced byArthur Dong
Thomas G. Miller
StarringRaymond Childs
William Cross
Corey Burley
Kenneth Jr. French
Jay Johnson
Jeffrey Swinford
Narrated byArthur Dong
CinematographyRobert Shepard
Edited byArthur Dong
Music byMiriam Cutler
Distributed byPBS
P.O.V.
Deep Focus Films
Release date
  • 1997 (1997)
Running time
77 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
  • Raymond Childs, murderer of a 55-year-old gay man who made sexual advances toward him.[2] Currently serving 25 years to life in Sing Sing Prison.[lower-alpha 1]
  • Donald Aldrich, murderer of Nicholas West, whom he met at a gay hangout, and with the help of two accomplices, shot nine times. Executed via lethal injection on October 12, 2004, in Huntsville, Texas.[4]
  • Corey Burley, murderer of Thanh Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant whom he shot once and killed after stalking him and his partner in a park.[5] Currently serving a life sentence at the Hodge Facility in Rusk, Texas.
  • William Cross, murderer of William Lemke, who made sexual advances toward him. He was sentenced to 25 years in the Dixon State Correctional Center of Illinois.[6] On July 13, 2006, he was released on parole.
  • Kenneth Jr. French, murderer of Wesley Cover, James Kidd, Ethel Parrous, and Pete Parrous, who were customers at a Luigi's restaurant in Fayetteville, North Carolina, after getting highly intoxicated. Unlike the other murderers featured in the film, none of French's victims were known to be homosexual, but rather, his act was out of anger toward the then President Bill Clinton for lifting the ban on homosexuals in the United States Military.[7] He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences, plus 35 years, at the Polk Youth Institution in Butner, North Carolina.
  • Jay Johnson, murderer of former State Senator John Chenoweth and Joel Larson at gay hangouts in Minneapolis.[8] Unlike the other murderers in the film, he recognized he was in fact gay himself both before and after his committed murders. He is currently serving two concurrent life terms at the St. Cloud Correctional Facility, as an openly gay man.
  • Jeffrey Swinford, murderer of Chris Miller, whom he and two friends met at a local gay hangout, went over to his house for alcohol and drugs, and then subsequently beat Miller to death and robbed him. Currently serving a 20-year sentence and is up for parole in 2009.

Awards

Notes
  1. Unless, otherwise indicated, the penal status as of 2004 for the murderers in this section is sourced to Deep Focus Productions.[3]

References
  1. Graham, Renee (May 9, 1997). "Licensed: a grim look at homophobic killers". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.(subscription required)
  2. "Man Guilty of Killing Wall Street Lawyer". The New York Times. June 10, 1994.
  3. "Licensed to Kill: Murderer's Profiles". Deep Focus Productions. Archived from the original on 2012-02-03.
  4. "Texas Inmate In Gay Murder Executed". The Tuscaloosa News. October 13, 2004.
  5. Kusner, Daniel A. (October 31, 2008). "17 years after deadly shooting in Reverchon Park, victim all but forgotten". Dallas Voice. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014.
  6. "Anti-gay/lesbian violence in 1994". Gay/Lesbian Community Services Center. 1995. p. 32.
  7. "Army Sergeant on Rampage Kills 4, Hurts 7". Los Angeles Times. August 8, 1993.
  8. "Johnson sentenced to life terms for killing Chenoweth, Larson". Minneapolis Star Tribune. October 9, 1992. Archived from the original on October 29, 2018.(subscription required)
  9. "Licensed to Kill". amdoc.org. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
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