A transgender woman was killed in South Carolina. Why this... case is historic

[Jessica_Rose]

A transgender woman was killed in South Carolina. Why this hate crime case is historic.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/a-transgender-woman-was-killed-in-south-carolina-why-this-hate-crime-case-is-historic/ar-BB1iBWX5?cvid=dd377cf3a0374594bc4be8f85abb1a62&ei=6

Story by Krystal Nurse (21 Feb 2024)

In the first federal hate trial of its kind, a jury will decide the fate of a man who prosecutors say killed a transgender woman because of her gender identity.

Veronica Hill, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Attorney's Office in South Carolina, said Tuesday that the gender-based hate trial of Daqua Ritter is a first for a federal jury.

Prosecutors in South Carolina referred the case to federal investigators, Hill said, because the state lacks a hate crime law. Several bills have been introduced in the state to create such a law but each failed in the state senate, according to Greenville News, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK.

Prosecutors allege Ritter fatally shot Doe in the head because of her gender identity.

"In July 2019, the defendant's sexual relationship with the victim was revealed to his friends and girlfriend," U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace wrote in a court filing. "The defendant was extremely upset that his sexual relationship was revealed."

Peace added Ritter's friends mocked him for the relationship and used anti-LGBTQ+ slurs and misidentified Doe.

He said Ritter persuaded Doe to drive into a rural South Carolina county where he shot her three times, according to court documents.