S.C. man found guilty of killing Black trans woman in first federal hate crime trial based on gender identity
A federal jury on Friday found a South Carolina man guilty of fatally shooting a Black transgender woman nearly five years ago because of her gender identity.
Daqua Lameek Ritter, 26, was convicted of a hate crime for the murder of Pebbles LaDime “Dime” Doe in the nation’s first-ever federal hate crime trial based on gender identity.
Ritter was also found guilty on all other charges in the indictment, including one federal firearms count and one count of obstruction.
“A unanimous jury has found the defendant guilty for the heinous and tragic murder of Dime Doe, a Black transgender woman,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement Saturday, calling the case “historic.”
“This defendant is the first to be found guilty by trial verdict for a hate crime motivated by gender identity under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act,” she added.
The act, a landmark federal statute signed into law in 2009, allows federal criminal prosecution of hate crimes motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
Federal prosecutors claimed Ritter shot the victim three times in the head because he wanted to keep their sexual relationship a secret. Prosecutors said he then fled to New York.
Doe’s body was found on Aug. 4, 2019 in an isolated area of Allendale, South Carolina’s least populated county.
The first-of-its-kind trial got underway on Tuesday and centered of the relationship between the two. Some of Doe’s friends testified that even though they developed an intimate relationship, Ritter made an effort to keep it all under wraps, as text messages obtained by the FBI suggested.
On Friday, after roughly four hours of deliberation, the jury agreed with prosecutors that Ritter killed Doe because of her gender identity, burned the clothes he was wearing during the crime, disposed of the murder weapon, and repeatedly lied to law enforcement.
Ritter faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. His sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.
With News Wire Services
