Man guilty in Black transgender woman’s killing in 1st federal hate crime trial over gender identity

By JAMES POLLARD
Associated Press/Report for America

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man has been found guilty of killing a Black transgender woman in the nation’s first federal hate crime trial over gender identity. Jurors decided Friday that Daqua Lameek Ritter fatally shot Dime Doe in 2019, because of her gender identity. Ritter was also convicted of using a firearm in connection with the crime and obstructing justice. The four-day trial centered on the secret sexual relationship between Doe and Ritter, who had grown agitated in the weeks preceding the killing by the exposure of their affair in the small town of Allendale, South Carolina, according to witness testimony and text messages obtained by the FBI. Defense lawyers argued that no physical evidence pointed to Ritter.