Now that Allen Andrade is rotting in jail for the rest of his life, it's now time for the transgender community's attention to focus on the other alleged murderer facing hate crimes charges for killing a transwoman. "The decision to prosecute Lateisha's murder as a hate crime sends a clear message that targeting transgender people for violence will not be tolerated," TLDEF executive director Michael Silverman said. "Lateisha’s senseless death demonstrates the increased risk of violence transgender people face, but we are hopeful that justice will be done, and that the outcome will help prevent future violence against transgender people."
20 year old Dwight DeLee of Syracuse pleaded not guilty in Onondaga County Court to charges of second-degree murder and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the November 14, 2008 shooting death of Lateisha Green at a house party.
Her untimely death occurred just as the worldwide transgender community was beginning to gather together for our annual Remembering Our Dead commemorations.
22 year old Lateisha was transitioning at the time of her death. Note to Syracuse, NY media peeps: y'all really need to read the AP Stylebook, GLAAD Media Reference Guide and the NCAVP guidelines for reporting on transgender people.
So far the local Syracuse media is failing miserably in terms of respectful coverage of Lateisha. They are consistently using her old name and there's rampant usage of incorrect pronouns.
DeLee is being held at the County Justice Center jail with no bail, and the DeLee family is already trying to sow the seeds for the 'trans panic' defense and garner sympathy for him.
Never mind the fact that Green's family not only lost a child to this senseless murder, her brother Mark Cannon was shot in the same incident as well.
Roxanne Green, stated at the time the decision was made to prosecute this case as a hate crime. "I am grateful that Teish's death will not be in vain, and that it will be prosecuted as a hate crime, which it was." "It took a long time for Teish to live her life openly and proudly. When she finally stood up and began living as who she was, she was taken away from me. I can't understand how anyone can hate someone so much because of who they are, and I hope that no other mother has to mourn a child killed because of who she was. I hope that justice will be done."
If DeLee is convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison, and like Allen Andrade, has a prior criminal history as well.The New York City based Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund is assisting Green's family, and hopefully these reprehensible tactics will massively fail in a much larger college town like Syracuse, NY just as it did in Greeley, CO.
It seems that we are constantly learning about somoeone who is transgender being abused. I hope people notice that this is twice in a row that there were women of color. No matter if her killer gets a conviction, the point is that she is still gone. The violence needs to end. No one deserves to die for being themselves.
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