Anti-trans murderer makes history as first convicted under federal hate crime law

Pebbles Radium “Dime” Do Photo: Human Rights Campaign

Convicted murderer Daqua Rameek Ritter was found guilty in the death of Pebbles Radium “Dime” Do, 24, a black transgender woman from South Carolina who was in a relationship with Ritter. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mr. Ritter is the first person to be tried and convicted of a hate crime motivated by gender identity under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. .

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In 2019, Ritter’s relationship with Doe was discovered by his girlfriend, which prosecutors said motivated Ritter to take Doe’s life. Prosecutors said Ritter became enraged by news of their relationship among his friends, lured her to a secluded area and shot her three times in the head.

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Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice He called the hate crime verdict “historic.”

“We want to thank the Black transgender community that you are seen and heard, that we stand with the LGBTQI+ community, and that we use every means available to us to seek justice for victims and their families. We want you to know that we use it,” Clark said in a department statement.

“Every day is a battle,” Doe’s mother, Debra Saab, said at Ritter’s sentencing. “He shouldn’t see the light of day.”

A jury found Ritter guilty in February on all charges in what Clark called Doe’s “heinous and tragic murder.”

“His crimes were motivated by anger at being ridiculed for having a sexual relationship with a transgender woman,” prosecutors wrote in court documents filed during the trial. They believe Mr Ritter’s girlfriend called him an anti-gay slur, which left him “extremely upset”.

Prosecutors said Ritter lied to police about his whereabouts at the time of the killings and had people help him burn clothes and hide weapons as he fled South Carolina for New York. .

Video of the traffic stop, along with DNA evidence, showed Ritter in Doe’s car hours before she was killed. Multiple witnesses said Ritter told them he killed her.

Ritter’s cousin said during the trial that “he was scared and upset” when he confessed to killing Doe. The cousin said Ritter asked her to keep the murder a secret and that she was angry that Doe wouldn’t delete photos of her from her phone.

A friend who was present as Ritter burned his clothes after the murder testified that Ritter said: [Doe] already. “

According to the Human Rights Campaign, 27 transgender people By 2024, 48% of those killed will be Black transgender women, and 63% will be killed by guns.

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