UPDATE/Fighting For Her Life: Transgender Woman Charged With Murder

[Shana A]

Posted on Advocate.com April 20, 2012 07:00:00 AM ET

Fighting For Her Life: Transgender Woman Charged With Murder
One night in front of a Minneapolis bar has changed CeCe McDonald's life forever.
By Diane Anderson-Minshall

http://www.advocate.com/Crime/Fighting_for_her_Life_Trans_Woman_Charged_With_Murder/

Nowhere are those issues more apparent than in the case of CeCe McDonald, a 23-year-old African-American transgender woman who goes on trial in Minneapolis April 30 for second-degree murder. It's a case that has galvanized Minnesota's LGBT community as well as transgender and African-American individuals nationwide. To many it's served as a stark reminder that that black and transgender people experience imprisonment at a rate significantly disproportionate to that of the general U.S. population. And according to recent studies by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, trans people are at greater risk of discrimination, mistreatment, harassment, and assault throughout their experiences with the criminal justice system.

McDonald (named Chrishaun by her parents, nicknamed CeCe by her friends) was charged with second-degree murder after a June 5, 2011, incident in Minneapolis, on an evening that began like many in the city. At the time, McDonald was a vibrant and creative young woman known by her friends as energetic and optimistic. She was studying fashion at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, a program that's the only one of its kind in the upper Midwest and has led many bright young students to Minneapolis's rather vibrant fashion and theater scenes for work.

[V M]

It is pretty obvious that Ce Ce is being 'railroaded'     If anything it is a case of self defense

She was attacked apparently by a small group of drunken bigots while on the way to the store with some friends

The guy with a swastika tattooed on his chest managed to get himself killed and it still isn't certain who stabbed him with a pair of scissors

Hate crime gone wrong and so the person that stood up to defend themselves is charged?

As if they left for the store thinking... "I'm gonna find me a Nazi to kill with my scissors" 

Something stinks in Minneapolis

[Jamie D]

Self defense, plain and simple.

[SandraJane]

Chicago attorney Joey Mogul speaks to CeCe Support Committee


By Dwight Hobbes, TC Daily Planet | April 23, 2012


http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2012/04/23/chicago-attorney-joey-mogul-speaks-cece-support-committee


Joey Mogul, co-author of Queer (In)justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States (Beacon Press), visited the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, April 23, as a guest of the CeCe Support Committee. Speaking in a Social Sciences Building conference room to a rapt audience of about 100 people, she said that Chrishuan "CeCe" McDonald is being railroaded through Minneapolis' legal system. Kris Gebhard of the CeCe Support Committee and Michael Friedman, executive director of the Legal Rights Center gave introductory remarks.

[SandraJane]

Support CeCe McDonald



Pretrial hearing rescheduled for Friday 4/27 at 9am


Posted by Support CeCe! | Apr 24


http://supportcece.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/pretrial-hearing-rescheduled-for-friday-427-at-9am/


Today CeCe McDonald had a pretrial hearing scheduled. Thirty plus supporters and family members came to pack the courtroom yet again to show the community love of CeCe. After two hours of in chambers discussion CeCe's pretrial hearing was rescheduled for Friday, April 27th at 9am

___________________________________________________________________________

TransGriot



CeCe McDonald Pretrial Hearing Today


Tuesday, April 24, 2012


http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2012/04/cece-mcdonald-pretrial-hearing-today.html





CeCe McDonald's pretrial hearing is taking place in a Hennepin County courtroom in Minneapolis, MN as I type this.   It was scheduled to start at 9 AM CDT and here's hoping that District Attorney Michael Freeman will drop the charges.

If he doesn't the trial will start on April 30.

[SandraJane]

Support Cece McDonald



CeCe McDonald Supporters Meet with Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman


CeCe McDonald Supporters Meet with Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman
Freeman says "The criminal justice system is not built for, nor is it good at, solving a lot of society's problems."


Posted by Support CeCe! | Apr 25 | Retrieved from the Internet on April 28, 2012 by SJ


http://supportcece.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/cece-mcdonald-supporters-meet-with-hennepin-county-attorney-michael-freeman/


Minneapolis, MN – After initially refusing a meeting, Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman and members of his staff agreed to meet with McDonald's family and supporters on Tuesday afternoon. Hours before Tuesday's meeting, Freeman's office issued a letter to McDonald's supporters defending his decision to charge her with two counts of second degree murder. During the meeting, Freeman cited his office's 3-hour staff training in 2010 and a lesbian employee to demonstrate his awareness of the issues facing LGBTQ people. Supporters cited a petition with over 14,500 signatures and letters from over 35 local and national organizations, including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the National Coalition of Anti-violence Programs, and Outfront Minnesota, to demonstrate the international concern over his ongoing prosecution of McDonald.

[SandraJane]

A day of protests at jail


Posted by: Nicole Norfleet under People and neighborhoods, Public safety Updated: April 27, 2012 - 12:20 PM


http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/149160775.html


About 40 supporters of Chrishaun Reed "CeCe" McDonald, a transgender woman who was charged with second-degree intentional murder, shouted on Thursday afternoon for her to be freed from jail.

McDonald, who is in transition from a man to a woman, was charged last year with second-degree intentional murder in the death of Dean Schmitz, 47. McDonald, 23, was walking with a group of friends past the Schooner Tavern about 12:30 a.m. June 5 when words were exchanged between the group and Schmitz and other bar patrons who were outside smoking. A fight ensued, and a woman allegedly threw a glass and cut McDonald's face. Schmitz died at the scene from a stab wound to the chest. In a videotaped interview with police after the fight, McDonald allegedly admitted that she took out a pair of scissors to scare Schmitz, and that Schmitz ran into them during the fight.

____________________________________________________________________________

Judge will rule if tattoo is allowable evidence in murder trial


by Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio | April 27, 2012


http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/04/27/chrishaun-mcdonald-trial/


ST. PAUL, Minn. — A man who was killed outside a Minneapolis bar last summer had a tattoo of a swastika on his chest.

At a hearing today, the attorney for a transgender woman accused of fatally stabbing Dean Schmitz said the tattoo is relevant to next week's murder trial of Chrishaun McDonald because it symbolizes Schmitz' hatred of people who are different.

[SandraJane]

The Bay Area Reporter



SF Dems working to support transgender woman convicted in Minnesota killing


Friday, May 11, 2012


http://ebar.com/blogs/?p=4162


Some members of San Francisco's Democratic Party are preparing a resolution in support of Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald, 23, a Minneapolis transgender woman imprisoned for what defenders call an act of self-defense.

The local Democratic County Central Committee is exploring a statement of support for McDonald, or a call for the Department of Justice to investigate the case, according to DCCC member Gabriel Haaland. The party plans to vote on the proposal May 23.

According to the resolution draft, McDonald, who's black, "was targeted in a vicious racist and transphobic attack" in Minneapolis in 2011. In the incident, she killed Dean Schmitz with a pair of scissors.

[lilacwoman]

what about the lovely considerate woman who smashed the glass in CeCe's face? 

Is there no CCTV of the incident?

here in UK we are used to the idea that immediately we leave our homes we will be on some cctv and certainly in town there are police and private cctv watching us so it is easier to see rhe truth of a situation but that doesn't stop scumabg lawyers trying all sorts of tricks.