First federal hate crime trial over gender identity begins

By James Pollard | Related Press/Report for America

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The primary federal trial over a hate crime primarily based on gender identification started Tuesday in South Carolina, the place a person faces fees that he killed a Black transgender lady after which fled to New York.

The U.S. Division of Justice alleges that in August 2019, Daqua Lameek Ritter lured the lady — who’s known as Dime Doe in courtroom paperwork — into driving to a sparsely populated rural county in South Carolina. Ritter then shot her 3 times within the head with a .22 caliber handgun after they reached an remoted space close to his uncle’s residence, in keeping with Ben Garner, an assistant U.S. legal professional for the district of South Carolina.

In recent times there was a surge in assaults on the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. For many years, transgender girls of shade have confronted disproportionately excessive charges of violence and hate crimes, in keeping with the Division of Homeland Safety. In 2022, the variety of gender identity-based hate crimes reported by the FBI elevated by 37% in comparison with the earlier yr.

And till 2009, federal hate crime legal guidelines didn’t account for offenses motivated by the sufferer’s sexual orientation or gender identification. The primary conviction involving a sufferer focused for his or her gender identification got here in 2017. A Mississippi man obtained a 49-year jail sentence as a part of a plea deal after he admitted to killing a 17-year-old transgender lady.

However Tuesday marks the primary time that such a case has ever been dropped at trial, in keeping with Brook Andrews, an assistant U.S. legal professional for the District of South Carolina. By no means earlier than has a federal jury determined whether or not to convict and additional punish somebody for a criminal offense primarily based on the sufferer’s gender identification.

Throughout opening arguments, Garner portrayed Ritter as somebody working vigilantly to keep away from the ridicule he’d face if his secret relationship was uncovered. They’d met throughout his teenage years when he traveled from his grandmother’s Brooklyn residence to go to household property in Allendale, South Carolina. The 2 had been shut mates, in keeping with the protection, and have been associated by Ritter’s aunt and the lady’s uncle.

However Ritter turned “enraged” when he discovered that one among Doe’s mates knew about their sexual relationship, in keeping with Garner. Ritter threatened to beat her for sharing that info with anybody — one thing he had repeatedly instructed her to not do, Garner mentioned.

The federal government has mentioned that Ritter’s girlfriend discovered concerning the affair between Ritter and Doe within the month earlier than the killing. Prosecutors imagine the revelation, which they are saying prompted Ritter’s girlfriend to hurl a homophobic slur, made Ritter “extraordinarily upset.”

Garner cited textual content messages purporting to indicate that Ritter complained to Doe concerning the mockery lower than one week earlier than her dying.

“He killed her to silence her,” Garner informed the jury.

They are saying that Ritter lied about his whereabouts in an interview with state police later that day. A “nervous” Ritter walked to his uncle’s home about half a mile away from the crime scene and requested for a trip residence, in keeping with Garner. Prosecutors say that Ritter enlisted others to assist burn his garments, cover the weapon and mislead police about his location on the day of the homicide.

Ritter is claimed to have been splitting time between South Carolina, the place he had a job and driver’s license, and New York, the place he lived with household and was finally arrested.

Authorities attorneys plan to current witness testimony about Ritter’s location and textual content messages with the lady, during which he allegedly persuaded her to take the trip. Proof consists of video footage taken at a visitors cease round 3 p.m. on the day of Doe’s dying that exhibits Ritter’s “distinctive” left wrist tattoo, however not his face, within the passenger seat of her automotive.

Different proof consists of DNA from the lady’s automotive and testimony from a number of individuals who say that Ritter privately confessed to them concerning the deadly capturing.

Ritter’s attorneys have emphasised that the trial shouldn’t be about their sexual relationship, however whether or not Ritter killed Doe. Lindsey Vann, one of many protection attorneys, argued Tuesday that no bodily proof factors to Ritter because the perpetrator. Notably, Vann mentioned the State Regulation Enforcement Division by no means processed a gunshot residue check that Ritter voluntarily took the day of the killing.