Andrade trial watchers want more than ‘guilty’

[Butterfly]

Andrade trial watchers want more than 'guilty'
The Greely Tribune
Sunday, April 12, 2009


http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20090412/NEWS/904129944/1005/NONE&parentprofile=1001


The case is being prosecuted as not only a first-degree murder case, but also under Colorado's hate-crime law, which in 2005 was amended to include violence based on bias against sexual orientation. Colorado is one of only a few states in the country that has gender identity protection in its hate-crime law.

Advocates say the trial will be the first test throughout the nation of a hate-crime law being used in a case of violence against a transgender person. They hope the case will bring national attention to the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act — the Matthew Shepard Act — which is languishing in Congress. Shepard, a gay man living in Wyoming, was tortured and beaten to death by two men who met him at a bar in 1998. His case brought further attention to hate-crime laws.