Local
Wone hearing to discuss S&M devices
A prosecutors’ request to introduce evidence that police found a collection of S&M devices in the home of three gay men implicated in the 2006 murder of Washington attorney Robert Wone is expected to be debated Friday during a D.C. Superior Court hearing.
The hearing follows a prosecutors’ February court filing seeking permission to submit evidence at trial alleging that defendants Joseph Price, Victor Zaborsky and Dylan Ward engaged in “conduct” not identified in the charges pending against them that could further link them to the murder. The trial is scheduled to begin May 10.
The three have been indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and evidence tampering in connection with Wone’s August 2006 stabbing death inside their house near Dupont Circle. Authorities have yet to charge anyone with the murder itself.
The men have pleaded not guilty to the charges and have said an unknown intruder killed Wone after entering their home through a rear door while they slept in their respective bedrooms.
According to the prosecutors’ filing last month, the new evidence includes a collection of sex toys and S&M books and manuals seized from the defendants’ home. Some of the devices are used to tie and restrain someone engaged in S&M activity while other devices seized are used to administer an electric shock to a person’s genitals, the prosecutors say.
While noting that these devices are not illegal and their use does not constitute a crime, prosecutors say in the court filing that “said evidence clearly passes” federal rules of evidence “as its probative value is exceedingly high and the prejudicial effect is quite low.”
Police have said Wone was restrained, immobilized with a paralytic drug, sexually assaulted and then stabbed to death, most likely in a guest bedroom in the upscale townhouse where the three men lived at the time.
Legal observers say the request to use the S&M devices as evidence at trial suggests that prosecutors might use it to develop a possible motive for the murder that the defense claims is lacking in the government’s case.
But in a separate court filing in February, defense attorneys accuse prosecutors of seeking to use the S&M devices, which the defense labels “erotic accessories,” as sensational and inflammatory “evidence” that has no relevance to the case and which would prejudice the jury.
“Here there is no evidence that Wone was restrained in any fashion and absolutely no evidence that any one of the erotic accessories was used on Wone for any purpose, never mind in connection with his death,” defense attorneys say in their filing.
Among the items seized from the Swann Street home of the three men, according to the prosecutors filing, are “floggers,” “assorted dildos,” “scrotal harness with weight attachments,” and devices designed to administer an electric shock to various parts of someone’s body, including the penis and anal area.
The 39-page defense filing, among other things, disputes an assertion by prosecutors’ that an autopsy finding traces of Wone’s own semen inside his rectum and on his genitals is evidence that he was sexually assaulted before being murdered. Defense attorneys say in their filing that they will present testimony at trial by expert witnesses showing that the traces of Wone’s semen on his body did not contain any sperm cells.
The lack of sperm cells indicates that the semen found on the body was due to a normal discharge of various bodily fluids including urine and seminal fluids that occurs when men die and internal muscles relax, the defense filing says.
“There were no obvious, external signs of sexual assault, restraint or electro-torture,” says the defense filing. “Indeed, the government itself did not claim that Wone was sexually assaulted until after the FBI tested the forensic swabs [of Wone’s genital and anal areas] more than two years after Wone’s death,” it says.
Investigators said Wone, 32, who was a college friend of Price, spent the night at the men’s home after working late in his downtown office. Wone was married to a woman and lived in Oakon, Va. Family members have said he was straight.
Price and Zaborsky, who are domestic partners, and Ward told police an intruder killed Wone after entering the home while they were asleep in their respective bedrooms.
Police and prosecutors dispute that claim, saying there’s no evidence of a break-in. They point to an autopsy showing Wone suffered from three “clean,” surgical-like stab wounds, with no signs of struggle. They also have said the autopsy indicates the wounds could only have been inflicted if Wone was immobilized by a drug.
But the defense team says in its court filings that the autopsy and chemical tests of the body have not found any traces of a paralytic drug, and it disputes the government’s claim that such drugs quickly dissipate within the body and can’t be found by chemical tests. The defense filing does not address the issue of the “clean” stab wounds that prosecutors say could only happen if a person is immobilized by an anesthesia-type drug.
Killer ‘known to’ men?
In their Feb. 5 court filing, which was made public Feb. 15, prosecutors reiterate earlier statements that they lacked evidence to charge anyone with the murder itself. But for the first time, they say that they believe “the killer is someone known to and being protected by” Price, Zaborsky and Ward.
“Given the sophistication and success of the defendants’ cover-up of the murder of Robert Wone, the evidence obtained to date does not yet establish beyond a reasonable doubt who actually killed Robert Wone,” says the court filing.
“Although the government investigation into the murder continues, there is ample admissible evidence demonstrating the killer is someone known to the defendants, and not, as the defendants told the police, an unknown, unseen, unheard, phantom intruder who entered without force, took nothing from the home, went to the farthest reaches of the second floor of the home, stabbed Robert Wone (while Robert Wone lay immobile), and then fled without a sound and without taking any item from the home or disturbing anything therein,” it says.
The government’s filing also for the first time suggests that Joseph Price’s brother, Michael Price, could be a person of interest linked to the Wone murder.
In October 2006, two months after the murder, D.C. police arrested Michael Price and an accomplice on a charge of burglarizing the Swann Street home where the murder took place, saying they entered the then vacant home using a key that Joseph Price had given Michael Price sometime earlier. At the time, police said they had no evidence to link the burglary to the murder.
In their court filing last month, prosecutors say they found that Michael Price had been enrolled in a course at Montgomery College, studying to be a phlebotomist from June through August of 2006. A phlebotomist is trained to draw blood from patients at hospitals or other medical facilities through the use of special hypodermic needles.
“Course attendance records reflect that Michael Price attended each and every scheduled class beginning on June 7, 2006, and running through July 31, 2006,” the government filing says. “However, those same records reflect that the first time he missed class was on Aug. 2, 2006, the night Robert Wone was killed.”
The filing adds in a footnote, “It should be noted that Michael Price’s partner, Louis Hinton, provided an alibi for Michael Price at the time of the murder.”
In a related development, defense attorneys last week filed motions asking that the case against Joseph Price, Zaborsky and Ward be “severed” so that each one would have a separate trial.
These and the filings by prosecutors seeking to introduce the S&M-related evidence are expected to be debated at Friday’s court status hearing before Judge Lynn Leibovitz.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ+ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Susan Ferentinos, Ph.D., on her appointment to the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. On her appointment she said, “This is a moment when historians must stand up for accuracy, complexity, and the full breadth of the American story. I look forward to working with my fellow board members to ensure the National Museum of American History continues to fulfill its mission of serving all Americans with the highest standards of scholarship and integrity.”
Ferentinos operates her own national consulting business based in Port Townsend, Wash., with satellite operations based in Delaware County, Pa. Her business helps museums, historic sites, and government agencies expand and diversify the stories they tell about the American past. Her work focuses on interpreting LGBTQ history and women’s history, bringing overlooked narratives into mainstream historical interpretation. Her clients have included the National Park Service, the American Association for State and Local History, Baltimore Heritage, and numerous museums and historic sites across the country. Among her many accomplishments, Susan was part of the teams responsible for getting three LGBTQ sites designated as National Historic Landmarks. Two of those landmarks are in Washington, D.C. She authored the NHL nominations for the Furies Collective, in Capitol Hill, building on research performed by local historian Mark Meinke, and she authored the NHL nomination for the home of African-American educators Lucy Diggs Slowe and Mary Burrill, in Brookland, building on research by Eric Griffitts and Katherine Wallace, of EHT Traceries.
Ferentinos earned her bachelor’s degree from College of William and Mary in International Development and Philosophy; a master’s from Indiana University in United States History; and a Ph.D. from Indiana University in United States History.
Congratulations also to Shawn Gaylord on joining a team at Berkshire Hathaway PenFed Reality in Solomons, Md. His focus will be Southern Maryland – Calvert, St. Mary’s, Charles, and Anne Arundel. Gaylord still leads the LGBTQ+ Strategies Team at The Raben Group and works part-time on federal policy for GLSEN.
Maryland
Md. Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs released updated student recommendations
LGBTQ students report higher rates of bullying, suicide
The Maryland Commission on LGBTQIA+ Affairs has released updated recommendations on how the state’s schools can support LGBTQ students.
The updated 16-page document outlines eight “actionable recommendations” for Maryland schools, supplemented with data and links to additional resources. The recommendations are:
- Developing and passing a uniform statewide and comprehensive policy aimed at protecting “transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive students” against discrimination. The recommendation lists minimum requirements for the policy to address: name, pronoun usage, and restroom access.
- Requiring all educators to receive training about the specific needs of LGBTQ students, by trained facilitators. The training’s “core competencies” include instruction on terminology, data, and support for students.
- Implementing LGBTQ-inclusive curricula and preventing book bans. The report highlights a “comprehensive sexual education curriculum” as specifically important in the overall education curriculum. It also states the curriculum will “provide all students with life-saving information about how to protect themselves and others in sexual and romantic situations.”
- Establishing Gender Sexuality Alliances “at all schools and in all grade levels.” This recommendation includes measures on how to adequately establish effective GSAs, such as campaign advertising, and official state resources that outline how to establish and maintain a GSA.
- Providing resources to students’ family members and supporters. This recommendation proposes partnering with local education agencies to provide “culturally responsive, LGBTQIA+ affirming family engagement initiatives.”
- Collecting statewide data on LGBTQ youth. The data on Maryland’s LGBTQ youth population is sparse and non-exhaustive, and this recommendation seeks to collect information to inform policy and programming across the state for LGBTQ youth.
- Hiring a full-time team at the Maryland Department of Education that focuses on LGBTQ student achievement. These employees would have specific duties that include “advising on local and state, and federal policy” as well as developing the LGBTQ curriculum, and organizing the data and family resources.
- Promoting and ensuring awareness of the 2024 guidelines to support LGBTQ students.
The commission has 21 members, with elections every year, and open volunteer positions. It was created in 2021 and amended in 2023 to add more members.
The Governor’s Office of Communication says the commission’s goal is “to serve LGBTQIA+ Marylanders by galvanizing community voices, researching and addressing challenges, and advocating for policies to advance equity and inclusion.”
The commission is tasked with coming up with yearly recommendations. This year’s aim “to ensure that every child can learn in a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment.”
The Human Rights Campaign’s most recent report on LGBTQ youth revealed that 46.1 percent of LGBTQ youth felt unsafe in some school settings. Those numbers are higher for transgender students, with 54.9 percent of them saying they feel unsafe in school.
Maryland’s High School Youth Risk Behavior Survey reveals a disparity in mental health issues and concerns among students who identify as LGBTQ, compared to those who are heterosexual. LGBTQ students report higher rates of bullying, feelings of hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts. Nearly 36 percent of LGBTQ students report they have a suicide plan, and 26.7 percent of respondents say they have attempted to die by suicide.
The commission’s recommendations seek to combat the mental health crisis among the state’s LGBTQ students. They are also a call for local and state governments to work towards implementing them.
Virginia
Va. lawmakers consider partial restoration of Ryan White funds
State Department of Health in 2025 cut $20 million from Part B program
The Virginia General Assembly is considering the partial restoration of HIV funding that the state’s Department of Health cut last year.
The Department of Health in 2025 cut $20 million — or 67 percent of total funding — from the Ryan White Part B program.
The funding cuts started with the Trump-Vance administration passing budget cuts to federal HIV screening and protection programs. Rebate issues between the Virginia Department of Health and the company that provides HIV medications began.
Advocates say the funding cuts have disproportionately impacted lower-income people.
The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, a federal program started in 1990, provides medical services, public education, and essential services. Part B offers 21 services, seven of which remained funded after the budget cuts.
Equality Virginia notes “in 2025, a 67 percent reduction severely destabilized HIV services across the commonwealth.”
Virginia lawmakers have approved two bills — House Bill 30 and Senate Bill 30 — that would partially restore the funding. The Ryan White cuts remain a concern among community members.
Both chambers of the General Assembly must review their proposed changes before lawmakers can adopt the bills.
“While these amendments aren’t a full restoration of what community-based organizations lost, this marks a critical step toward stabilizing care for thousands of Virginians living with HIV,” said Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman. “Equality Virginia plans to continue their contact with lawmakers and delegates through the conference and up until the passing of the budget.”
“We appreciate lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who recognized the urgency of this moment and will work to ensure funding remains in the final version signed by the governor,” added Rahaman.
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