Murder Trial Tests Colorado Hate-Crime Statute
By DAN FROSCH
Published: April 16, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/us/17transgen.htmlGREELEY, Colo. — Angie Zapata was killed two weeks shy of her 19th birthday last summer, beaten to death with a flurry of fists and a fire extinguisher.
It was one of the most gruesome crimes this northern Colorado farming town has seen. The man accused of killing Ms. Zapata, Allen R. Andrade, 32, told the police that he had attacked her upon discovering that she was biologically a man, after the two met on the Internet and had a sexual encounter. In a chilling arrest affidavit, Mr. Andrade said he thought he had "killed it," after striking Ms. Zapata in the head until she stopped breathing.
Now, Mr. Andrade stands accused of first-degree murder, in what national gay rights groups say is the first trial in which a hate-crime statute has been used to prosecute the killing of a transgender person.
Opening statements in the trial began Thursday before a packed courtroom here with prosecutors painting Mr. Andrade as a vicious homophobe who plotted to kill Ms. Zapata 36 hours after figuring out that she was born male.
