Man found guilty of hate crime in attack on trans woman in U-Districthttps://mynorthwest.com/crime-blotter/attack-trans-woman/4202473 🔗JAMES LYNCH (12 Feb 2026)
Andre Karlow was found guilty Thursday of severely beating a trans woman in the University District last March.
A jury convicted Karlow of second-degree assault and a hate crime for the unprovoked attack on Andy Holcepl.
The trial started last week and concluded Thursday morning with closing statements from King County Prosecutor Yessenia Manzo and defense attorney Maxwell Evans.
Prosecutors told jurors the case is clear: Holcepl was beaten at the hands of the defendant, and he attacked her because she is trans.
"Andy was able to identify him, without question, without hesitancy, with full confidence. She said she was 100% sure that it was Mr. Karlow who had punched her in the face. She said she was 100% sure that it was Mr. Karlow, sitting in this courtroom, who was the main aggressor," Manzo said.
The defense argued that Holcepl was not attacked at all, but was instead involved in a fight, and that the defendant didn't know she was trans. Karlow did not take the stand to testify in his own defense, something jurors were told not to hold against him.
"You do not have to find that Ms. Holcepl is lying, just that she's not credible. She may have misperceived things, misremembered things. That's reason to doubt her credibility," Evans said.
But the jury, composed of six men and six women, found Karlow guilty.
