A South Carolina man was found guilty Friday of killing a Black transgender woman in the nation’s first federal trial over a hate crime based on gender identity.
After deliberating for roughly four hours, jurors convicted Daqua Lameek Ritter of a hate crime for the murder of Dime Doe in 2019. Ritter was also found guilty of using a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting and obstructing justice.
A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. Ritter faces a maximum of life imprisonment without parole.
“This case stands as a testament to our committed effort to fight violence that is targeted against those who may identify as a member of the opposite sex, for their sexual orientation or for any other protected characteristics,” Brook Andrews, an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina, told reporters after the verdict.
There was a moment in my life where I walked around late night Baltimore and talked with the trans sex workers about how things were going. They had a remarkably (sadly?) complex system with how they communicate to each other up and down the streets to keep each other safe.
A week or so later, I found an older article from a local paper on microfiche about how specifically black trans sex workers in Baltimore have had ridiculously high murder and assault rates for a long time now and too many people just don’t care enough to do anything about it.
I don’t know how, but yeah. Something’s gotta change.