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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – A South Carolina man was convicted Friday of killing a Black transgender woman in the nation’s first federal trial on an alleged gender identity-based hate crime.
Jurors determined that Daqua Ramek Ritter shot and killed Dime Doe three times on Aug. 4, 2019, because of her gender identity. Ritter was also convicted of using a firearm and obstruction of justice in connection with the crime.
The four-day trial began in the small town of Allendale, South Carolina, between Doe and Ritter, who had been agitated by revelations about their affair in the weeks before the murders, according to witness testimony and obtained text messages. The focus was on the secret sexual relationship between them. According to the FBI.
“This case is a testament to our dedicated efforts to combat violence targeting people who may be perceived as members of the opposite sex because of their sexual orientation or other protected characteristics. ” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooke Andrews. District of South Carolina spoke to reporters after the verdict.
There have been hate crime prosecutions in the past based on gender identity, but none of them went to trial. A Mississippi man was sentenced to 49 years in prison as part of a plea deal in 2017 after admitting to killing a 17-year-old transgender woman.
In Doe’s murder trial, the Justice Department presented text exchanges between the two that allegedly show Ritter trying to dispel gossip about their relationship in the weeks before Doe’s death. . He continued to monitor the investigation, responding modestly to questions from his then-favorite girlfriend DeLasia Greene, according to trial testimony.
Documents obtained by the FBI suggest Ritter tried to keep his relationship with Doe as secret as possible, prosecutors argued. He reminded her to delete their communications from her phone, and hundreds of text messages sent in the month before her death were deleted.
Shortly before Doe’s death, the text messages began to become tense. In a July 29, 2019 message, she complained that Ritter did not reciprocate her generosity. He replied that she thought they understood that she didn’t need “extras.”
He also said Green insulted him with homophobic slurs. Doe said in a July 31 email that she felt used and that Ritter should never have let his girlfriend know about them.
Ritter’s lawyer said the sample messages presented by prosecutors were only a “snapshot” of the exchange. They pointed to a July 18 message from Doe encouraging Ritter and another exchange in which Ritter thanked Doe for one of his many kindnesses.
However, witnesses gave other damaging testimony against Ritter.
Green said that when she showed up at her cousin’s home in Columbia a few days after the killing, it was so dirty and smelly that she couldn’t stop walking around. Her cousin’s boyfriend gave Ritter a ride to the bus stop. Before leaving, Green asked if he had killed Doe.
“He bowed his head and gave me a little smile,” Green said.
Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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