Gay Rights Activist Bruce LaVallee-Davidson Convicted of Manslaughter in Sex Game Dungeon Slay

By: Carlin DeGuerin Miller
Topics: Daily Blotter

(AP/Gordon Chibroski)

PORTLAND, Maine (CBS/AP) Bruce LaVallee-Davidson, an outspoken gay rights activist who publicly fought for gay marriage, has been convicted of manslaughter in a bizarre sex game accident that included drugs and guns.

Bruce Lavallee-Davidson, center, sits with his court appointed attorneys, Jan. 11, 2010

Both the prosecution and the defense had agreed that LaVallee-Davidson, a 50-year-old Skowhegan, Maine farmer and avid gun collector, didn't intend to kill his friend, Fred Wilson, during a drug-fueled, three-way sex party that lasted 12 hours. But prosecutors contended that LaVallee-Davidson should have checked that the gun they were using to heighten their sexual role playing wasn't loaded before handling it.

"You never point a loaded gun at someone's head," Marchese said after resting her case Jan. 12, emphasizing it's the responsibility of the person holding the revolver to ensure the chamber is empty.

"You don't point a gun and pull the trigger unless you're 100 percent sure."

Much has been made of the sexual nature of the killings, but Marchese said the focus should be on the handling of the gun - not the sexual acts in the victim's basement.

Police say that the shooting occurred while a third man, James Pombriant, was engaged in a sex act with Wilson in the dungeon-like basement of Wilson's Colonial home in a middle-class neighborhood two blocks from the ocean.

Pombriant testified that the shot rang out and there was a moment of silence before Lavallee-Davidson said, "I think I killed him."

One of his lawyers, Mike Whipple, said his client checked three times over the course of the night to make sure the .44-caliber Rossi revolver wasn't loaded. Whipple contends it's likely Wilson loaded the gun while Lavallee-Davidson briefly stepped away to use the bathroom.

When Lavallee-Davidson returned, Wilson asked him to put the gun to his head and pull the trigger to intensify his pleasure, the defense had argued. On the first try, there was a click when Lavallee-Davidson pulled the trigger. Wilson asked him to do it again, and there was a flash, the defense said.

The case had garnered publicity because LaVallee-Davidson is a outspoken advocate for same-sex rights and was in a committed relationship when he testified in favor of keeping Maine's now-overturned gay marriage law at a public hearing, four days after the discovery of the body of 50-year-old Wilson and a couple of weeks before he was indicted.

LaVallee-Davidson faces up to 30 years in prison. Pombriant was not charged in the killing.

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by galoux June 12, 2010 11:29 AM EDT: *sigh* So depressingly predictable, the people who take this as a reason to support their bigotry against gays. I could start off attacking their total lack of logic by pointing, most lately, to the accused Joran van der Sloot, and the convicted Josef Fritzl, and the late Ted Bundy, and so forth, but the list of hetero sexual violence quickly becomes way, way too long for the space here . . . or anywhere.; Reply to this comment

by jankebenzone January 14, 2010 7:57 PM EST

Where did all the gay supporters go on this story?? Usually they come and post in droves whenever a gay story pops up Could it be that this incident throws a big wrench in the gays gears about being normal people?.

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by bEEarCUB March 12, 2010 11:55 AM EST: Ohh, please. I can find, probably easier than gay ones even, PLENTY of straight freakshows (and I'm not just talking about virtually every rapist), but that doesn't prove anything either. Most gays are as boring in the bedroom as anyone else, but that's not sensational enough for news ... plus I sure don't see these kinds of comments for the quite daily/hourly heterosexual sex crimes.

EX: Why should I not judge Christian priests, and arguably their followers, for their propensity for child molestation, crime, and violence! Those stories are magnitudes more common. Dozens every week. Perverted diseased lifestyle Indeed!! Or apparently, at least following the logic of all the ignoramuses here.

by squeakof2006 January 14, 2010 12:20 PM EST

This whole case is sick. The homosexual lifestyle is messed up enough as is, without making threesomes and guns part of it. As pointed out, to which gentleman (I use the term lightly...) was the convict in a relationship with? When strait people use guns as part of their sexual experience, they call that "sexual abuse". There was nothing normal about that party and it sure does not help the gays' case for "we're just like everyone else!". No, you're not. Most people don't find a gun pointed at their head a heightened sexual experience!

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by bEEarCUB March 12, 2010 12:34 PM EST: So your pristine logic has concluded that all gays like guns pointed at their heads?? Come on. Even someone as 'bright' and 'honest' as you has to realize how absurd you are being. It's rare enough to find a gay guy that even owns a gun, not to mention likes using it for sex play ...


by cidaia January 14, 2010 11:35 AM EST: So does this mean the public school will have an obligation to teach my child how to do basement BDSM safely?; Reply to this comment


by anti-global3 January 14, 2010 9:22 AM EST: G A Y S are sick people.; Reply to this comment


by winstrv January 14, 2010 12:25 AM EST: I love how "committed" to marriage/relationship he was. Last time I checked with my wife, she informed me that having a threesome was not included in our marriage vows. She went on to inform me that her commitment was to me and I to her. Guess this guy has a different view which certainly doesn't surprise me.; Reply to this comment


by jankebenzone January 13, 2010 11:48 PM EST: Hmmm, three homosexuals having bizarre sex party in dungeon like basement with drugs and guns.
Yet the gays advocate they're just normal people. Ugh huh, yeah normal alright!; Reply to this comment


by tmittelstaed January 13, 2010 10:59 PM EST: My opinion is that anyone who mixes violence with sex needs to spend their life in prison. It's sickening and perverted, whether or not they are gay.; Reply to this comment


by NYPD1966 January 13, 2010 10:42 PM EST: deviant lifestyle...enough said; Reply to this comment


by armyoftwelve January 13, 2010 10:27 PM EST: Let this be a reminder to all that a marriage is between ONE man and ONE woman.....

Maine voters said so in November : ); Reply to this comment