A Minneapolis man was sentenced to more than three decades in prison for killing a transgender woman in November, though prosecutors said they couldn’t prove the crime was bias-motivated.
A judge in Hennepin County, Minnesota, sentenced Damarean Kaylon Bible, 25, to 367 months — or nearly 31 years — in prison for second-degree murder after he fatally shot Savannah Ryan Williams, a 38-year-old trans woman who was well known among the local trans community, according to NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis.
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Bible told police that he shot Williams following a sex act because he felt “suspicious” about her. After a thorough investigation, Moriarty said, her office could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime was bias-motivated but added that hate still could have been a factor.
Moriarty said Williams’ murder is part of a trend of escalating violence against trans people, particularly trans people of color, in recent years. Trans people are four times more likely than cisgender people to be the victims of violent crimes, according to a 2021 report from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
There “was” a time? The gay and trans panic defense is still legal in a multitude of states and while it’s not as successful as it used to be, people still use it and get off without prison time.