................on the subject of DARWINism

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'Pumping Party' Trial: 'Bizarre, Flamboyant, Unusual"

Transsexuals Testify Against Men Accused Of Deadly Silicone Injection

POSTED: 6:24 p.m. EDT May 12, 2003

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- In the opening statements of a Fort Lauderdale murder trial, one lawyer told jurors to be ready for the "bizarre, flamboyant and unusual."

The trial is for two men, one who looks like a woman, both accused of killing a woman at a "pumping party" where they injected silicone to enlarge her buttocks.

Mark Hawkins and Donnie Hendricks, who prefers to use the name "Viva," are accused practicing medicine without a license, and of injecting so much silicone into Vera Lawrence (pictured, left) that it caused her death.

The pair is alleged to have injected 12,000 cc's of industrial strength silicone into each of Lawrence's buttocks.

According to witnesses in pre-trial hearings, Hawkins and Hendricks charged up to $1,000 per pumping party. Most of the witnesses are transsexual men who went to the parties for "body-sculpting."

Defense attorney George Reres said it was Lawrence's desire to have "insane" amount of silicone injected into her body over the course of five years that over time caused her to essentially take her own life.

Reres also told jurors to be prepared to hear testimony from witnesses who are not just "drag queens, but are also drama queens."

http://www.click10.com/news/2198497/detail.html