A South Carolina man was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for the murder of a Black transgender woman.
In February, a jury convicted Daqua Lameek Ritter for the 2019 killing of Dime Doe on all charges, including one hate crime count, one federal firearms count and one obstruction count.
Ritter is the first person to be tried and convicted under a federal hate crime law named for Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. — men killed because of their sexual orientation and race — for violence against a transgender person. The 2017 murder of Mercedes Williamson, also a trans woman, was the first case prosecuted under the law that involved a victim targeted because of their gender identity.
“Bias-motivated violence has no place in our society,” Benjamin C. Mizer, principal deputy associate attorney general, said Thursday in a statement . “With today’s sentencing, the defendant is being held accountable for the senseless murder of Dime Doe, a transgender woman of color. We hope that the verdict and sentence in this case provides Ms. Doe’s loved ones with some sense of comfort and demonstrates that the Justice Department will vigorously prosecute those who commit violent acts of hate against the LGBTQI+ community.”