S.C. man sentenced to life in prison for murdering Black trans woman after historic verdict
A South Carolina man was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for the murder of Dime Doe, a Black transgender woman.
A South Carolina man was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for the murder of a Black transgender woman.
A jury convicted Daqua Lameek Ritter, whom police say shot Dime Doe in August 2019, on all charges, including one hate crime count, one federal firearms count and one obstruction count.
Ritter was the first person tried and convicted under federal hate crime law for fatal violence against a trans person.
Dime Doe was fatally stabbed in 2019. Courtesy Dime Doe's family via AP“Bias-motivated violence has no place in our society,” Benjamin C. Mizer, principal deputy associate attorney general, said in a statement Thursday. “With today’s sentencing, the defendant is being held accountable for the senseless murder of Dime Doe, a transgender woman of color. We hope that the verdict and sentence in this case provides Ms. Doe’s loved ones with some sense of comfort and demonstrates that the Justice Department will vigorously prosecute those who commit violent acts of hate against the LGBTQI+ community.”
Doe grew up in South Carolina and transitioned after high school, Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement following Ritter’s sentencing. Doe became a hairdresser and then started seeing Ritter. But Ritter wanted to hide his connection to Doe because he was in a relationship with another woman, Clarke said.
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