Thursday, April 23, 2009

Breaking: Justice in Zapata Case

From The New York Times:

"A jury took just two hours Wednesday to find a Colorado man guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of an 18-year-old transgender woman, and determined that the act was a hate crime."


The murderer conceded that he killed the woman, Angie Zapata, but he attempted to use the "trans panic" defense to lessen the charge from first-degree to second-degree murder. Instead, the jury found Allan Andrade guilty of first-degree murder, guilty of a hate crime, and sentenced him to life in prison without parole. Since the mandatory penalty in Colorado for first-degree murder is life in prison, the hate crime charge has "no immediate practical effect."

Autumn Sandeen at Pam's House Blend has been covering this story since the beginning.

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