Transphobic Defense Attorney Andrew Wilkerson Found In Contempt Of Court

Had a feeling this was going to happen sometime during this Edward Thomas trial, and today was that day.

Thanks to reporter Dana Branham, who is tweeting this trial for the Dallas Morning News now in its second day,  we've learned that Andrew Wilkerson, the transphobic lead defense attorney for Edward Thomas, the person videotaped beating Muhlaysia Booker in that infamous viral video, went too far in his as he termed it "zealously, righteously, and fearlessly defending his client."

Before the trial started, he tried and thankfully failed to deploy the trans panic defense to get his client who is facing 20 years in prison a lighter sentence.

Wilkerson and Michael Campbell, the other defense attorney in this case, continued to misgender and deadname Booker.   Wilkerson also made the BS laden claim that Booker instigated the attack that left her with a concussion and a broken wrist by 'talking smack'

He also continued to argue with Judge Hector Garza, who warned his transphobic behind several times that he was going too far with his courtroom antics before Garza cleared the jurors out of the courtroom and found Wilkerson in contempt of court.

Wilkerson was sentenced to 14 days in jail and a $500 fine, and led out of the courtroom in handcuffs before testimony resumed in this case. 

Wilkerson is now in jail for the rest of this trial, and hopefully his client Edward Thomas will be joining him in the Dallas County Iron Bar Hilton soon.

TransGriot Update: Wilkerson was released from jail Friday on a personal recognizance bond 

JonCasey Rowell Convicted In Monica Loera Murder Case

Good news out of Austin! 

After several hours of deliberation by a Travis County jury, JonCasey William Rowell was found GUILTY in the killing of Monica Loera at approximately 4:40 PM CST.

Rowell was charged with first degree murder by APD when he was arrested for the January 22, 2016  killing of Loera at her north Austin home.

After several days of testimony in the trial which started with jury selection last Monday, the Travis County jury hearing the case went into deliberation at noon CST today.

The case was observed by members of the Austin trans and gender non conforming community and friends of Loera.   

They will be in the courtroom tomorrow morning at 9 AM CST when Rowell is sentenced and we hope it will be a punishment that fits the heinous crime.   He is facing 99 years in jail.

Islan Nettles' Confessed Killer To Be Sentenced Today

James Dixon, the confessed killer of Islan Nettles will be sentenced staring at 9 AM EDT.

As part of a plea deal, he's getting a 12 year sentence for the brutal killing of our trans sister, and many local activists are not happy about that development.

I agree with my New York trans family, 12 years in jail is a joke considering the level of brutality of the crime, and really don't care if it was his first offense.  He killed somebody.

Dolores Nettles, the mother of Islan Nettles is requesting that trans community members able to do so join her in the courtroom for the sentencing.   If you live in the New York metro area and can take the time out of your busy day to be there in solidarity with Ms. Nettles, I urge you to do so.

And here's hoping the New York media covers it this time.    

Tracey Lynn Garner Pumping Case Update

When I last checked in on the case of Mississippi silicone pumper Tracey Lynn Garner, she was now facing two charges of depraved heart murder for the March 2012 deaths of 37 year old Karima Gordon of Atlanta and the January 2010 death of 23 year old Marilyn Hale of Selma, AL due to silicone butt injections that went horribly wrong..

40 year old Natasha Stewart, an adult entertainer known as 'Pebblez Da Model' went on trial in Jackson, MS January 27 for her part in the death of Karima Gordon.  

She had accepted $200 to refer Gordon to Garner for the silicone pumping procedure and falsely claimed Garner was a nurse.   Stewart herself had been injected 20 times in the last seven years to create the signature pumped 48 inch derriere she possesses courtesy of Garner.

Stewart had been charged with "depraved-heart" murder, which is defined as one committed with a callous disregard for human life.   Depraved heart murder carries a sentence of life imprisonment, but the jury convicted her on January 31 of the lesser charge of culpable negligent manslaughter.

Stewart was facing 20 years, but was sentenced on February 14 by Judge Bill Gowan to 15 years with 8 years suspended on the manslaughter charge and 5 years on the charge of conspiracy with both sentences to run concurrently.    Translation:  She'll be locked up for 7 years and has 8 years suspended.  

As for Garner, her trial was supposed to start after two resets on March 17, but it looks like it has been reset again since I have yet to find any news stories concerning a trial or conviction.

If I discover any new information concerning the Garner case, I'll pass that information along.

Tavares Spencer Sentenced In Tampa

Justice has been served in Tampa, FL.

Tavares Spencer, the 16 year old teen who robbed and shot trans woman Coko McDonald back on April 9 and gleefully bragged about on social media will be spending time in the Florida penal system.

Spencer was tried as an adult and found guilty back in October of attempted first degree murder, robbery with a firearm, attempted second degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated battery.

The trial featured testimony from Coko Williams and a failed attempt by Spencer's defense attorney to deploy the odious 'trans panic' defense. 

Our transsister Coko is not only thankfully alive to tell her story, she got the early Christmas present of seeing justice being served  

The judge in this case noted his pattern of recent criminal behavior and the testimony from Tampa PD detectives about his lack of remorse in the shooting.  He sentenced Spencer to spend the next 25 years of his young life in jail for letting his transphobia get the best of him.

Andrey Bridges Found Guilty Of Killing Cemia Dove Acoff

After a 10 day trial that started with the empaneled jury taking a trip to the crime scene where it took place, a Cuyahoga County jury found Andrey Bridges guilty of stabbing 20 year old Cemia Dove Acoff to death in January after discovering her trans status.

According to a Cleveland Plain Dealer report, the jury comprised of nine women and three men deliberated for a day before rejecting the recordings of Bridges' declarations of innocence made during his four hour police interrogation after his arrest in May.   

Acoff was called several times by Bridges on the morning of January 5, hired a taxicab to pick her up and paid the driver $100 upon her arrival at his apartment in Olmstead Township, OH.

She was never seen alive again after that date.  Later that day, two men stopped by the apartment house to pick up rent money that Bridges owed. They reported finding blood spattered in the apartment, Bridges’ hand bleeding profusely, and a bonfire burning in the yard.   

Acoff's body when found three months later was stabbed 40 times and anchored to a concrete block.  

Judge Hollie L. Gallagher has set the sentencing for next week and Bridges is facing 15 years to life for the murder conviction. 

Tavares Spencer Trial-Coko Takes The Stand

The question was asked by the Tampa media if Coko McDonald would testify against her attacker or even be there in the audience as the Tavares Spencer trial started yesterday. 

Well, she did.  Sis was looking good as she described the events of that horrific April 9 day. 




And yeah, not a surprise to me that Spencer's defense attorneys are already trying to deploy the 'trans panic' defense.   They actually claimed that since McDonald made sexual advances toward their client, the now 17 year old teen felt scared for his life and shot her.

WTF?   Just another sterling example of why the 'trans panic' defense needs to be banned and consigned to the legal ash heap. 

Gee, I hope the jury didn't buy those woof tickets the defense attorney was selling, but then again, we have previous experience with Florida juries buying bull feces laden defense cases up the road in Sanford, FL. .  

The Spencer trial is expected to wrap up by the end of the week.

Tavares Spencer Attempted Murder Trial Starts In Tampa

22 year old Coko McDonald almost ended up being another one of the sadly too long list of Black trans women whose names we'll read on November 20.

But because of quick thinking on her part she's not, and the waste of DNA who allegedly tried to kill her is on trial.

16 year old Tavares Spencer is facing attempted murder and hate crime charges after luring McDonald to a home on April 9 in the 5000 block of Winnie Street N.in the east Tampa area and shooting her. 

Spencer wanted to date Coko and after discovering she was a trans woman, became enraged about that revelation and allegedly plotted to kill her.

Just because you get pissed about finding out you are attracted to a trans woman doesn't give you or anyone else the authority to kill us.  

Off soapbox, returning to story.  

A week after the two met, Spencer lured Coko to the home on Winnie Street, pulled out a gun, and told her to get on the ground.  Police say he stole her cell phone and her purse and then shot her. Coko says the bullets hit her in the hip.


“I lost my breath with the first shot.  The second one kind of put my body in a shock,” said Coko.

McDonald played dead until Spencer walked away.  She then got up and took off running as Spencer fired another shot at her that fortunately missed.

Tampa Police Department investigators said that within an hour of the shooting, the teenager was bragging about it on text messages and using "defamatory statements" about McDonald's sexual orientation.

Spencer was in jail on an unrelated charge when he was arrested and charged as an adult for the attempted murder of McDonald along with robbery and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.  The enhanced hate crime charge was the result of a warrant authorized search of Spencer's phone that revealed the transphobic text messages. 

Jury selection started this morning with prosecutors and Spencer's defense attorney interviewing potential jury members for this attempted murder trial.   It's also not known at this time whether Coko will appear in the courthouse to either testify during the trial against Spencer or just be there in the courtroom to watch the proceedings.

At any rate, I'll be keeping an eye on it along with the Tampa area trans community to see if justice is served in this case.

Michael Dunn Case Going To Trial September 23

Don't look now people, but it's time to get prepared for another 'Kill A Black Kid With Impunity' trial in Florida.  

Michael Dunn will go on trial starting September 23 in the death of 17 year old Jordan Russell Davis.

The 46 year old Dunn has pleaded not guilty and is facing first degree murder charges in the killing of Davis and three charges of attempted murder in the Black Friday incident that happened at a Jacksonville gas station mere months after Trayvon Martin was killed in Sanford, FL.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in this case (gee, I wonder why).    

On that fateful day Davis and his friends went to a Jacksonville gas station to fill up after finishing a shopping trip to a local mall. They encountered Dunn, a gun collector with a permit to carry a concealed weapon. A confrontation took place over the volume of the music playing in the car Davis and his friends were in.

Dunn, later saying he felt “threatened”, thought the teens were “gang members” and claiming he saw a shotgun took out his gun and fired several shots into the SUV, that struck and killed Davis.


You can bet the conservative movement and the defense team in their zeal to defend Dunn will use their time tested tactics to demonize Jordan Russell Davis and all the boys in the SUV,  turn them into 'marauding thugs' and make Dunn look like the second coming of Jesus Christ to rally the conservasheeple around.

This trial will also have a nearly or completely melanin free jury with the overwhelming stench of vanillacentric privilege filling the Duval county courthouse or wherever they have this trial.

We'll see how this one plays out, but y'all know what kind of track record I have when it comes to predicting these types of cases .

And based on what just happened in Seminole County, I won't be too surprised o see Michael Dunn walking when this case is over. 

Fear Of An Unjust Verdict

I did much venting about the Trayvon Martin case when it started unfolding last year and wasn't the only blogger who had something to say about it at the time. 

For those of you who have been surfing over to the blog looking for my chococentric commentary on the Zimmerman trial, I must confess I haven't been watching much of it because I'm not too optimistic that justice will be served in this case. 

The ultimate justice would be Trayvon Benjamin Martin walking into his parents arms and out of that Seminole County courtroom, but we know that ain't happening.

But what I and much of the African-American community fears will happen after the six woman jury made up of ZERO African-Americans gets to deliberate on this case is that George Zimmerman walks.

We have ample evidence of the reality that America doesn't care much about Black lives, and they care even less about a young Black kid's life.   Far too many people, and especially conservative whites believe the bull feces that all young Black men, including Trayvon Martin are dangerous suspects.

After the defense delivers their closing argument tomorrow and the case goes to the jury, what Black America fears is the visual when that jury comes out of deliberation and delivers the verdict in front of the unblinking eye of the media's television cameras, a 'not guilty' verdict will be read.

We will then in Black America have to painfully watch as George Zimmerman exhales, cheers and he, his family and friends plaster cheesy grins all over their faces in victory while Tracy Martin, Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon's brother Jahvaris Fulton and their family, friends and supporters have stunned or disconsolate looks on their faces as the sickening realization sinks in that Zimmerman just got away with murdering their loved one.

Well, all we can do is wait and see how this plays out, and see if it verifies what I said when this trial started last month.

If Zimmerman is convicted, the justice system worked in this case despite the attempts of the Zimmerman family and the vanillacentric conservafool movement to shift the narrative, 'work the refs'  and demonize Trayvon for the fateful decision he made to simply get some tea and Skittles from a local 7 Eleven.

If he walks, we're probably looking at Rodney King levels of anger and pissivity in our community that I hope and pray doesn't explode into what Dr. King called it in his 'The Other America' essay as 'the language of the unheard'.     

Evon Young Trial Defendant Billy Griffin In Deliberations

Billy Griffin, one of the people accused of killing Milwaukee transmasculine rapper Evon 'Yung LT' Young took the stand in his own defense during his trial late Wednesday and early Thursday. 

He described the New Year's Day murder of his former roommate and music collaboration partner was an indirect payback for him leaving a violent gang run by his cousin Victor Stewart.

Griffin tearfully testified that his days of feigned ignorance during the search for Young and initial lies to police when they began to suspect a homicide, were driven by fear of reprisals from his cousin and Stewart's gang.

Prosecutor Grant Huebner argued that because Griffin's performance was so convincing over the two weeks leading up to his January 15 arrest, his story and display of emotion on the witness stand might also be only an act.

After Griffin wrapped up his testimony, the jurors began deliberating his fate after lunch on June 13 and are still deliberating as of this writing.

Griffin is facing a maximum life in prison sentence if he is convicted of first degree intentional homicide as the family and friends of Young and the trans community await the jury's eventual verdict.

TransGriot Update: After several days of the jury failing to reach a unanimous verdict in the case of Billy Griffin, the accused murderer of Evon Young, a mistrial was just declared this morning by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Wagner.   Wagner scheduled a new trial for September 16.

No Justice For Carmen-The Chambers Trial Foreman Speaks

Got an interesting comment today from Dennis Heffernan, the creator of the Cretaceous Comments blog

He was the jury foreman on the Alrashim Chambers trial.  Chambers as you know from reading my posts during that period was acquitted in the killing of Victoria Carmen White back in May. 

He reached out to me and wanted to share a blog post of his entitled 'No Justice For Carmen' that recounts what happened during the trial.

Here's an excerpt from it.:.

I will not claim I even pretend to understand the loss, grief and outrage Carmen’s friends and relatives must be feeling.  Likewise for the LGBT community, which has had to once again bear an injustice gone unpunished against one of its own.  In circumstances like these it’s natural to look for someone to blame.  It would be nice to be able to tell you not to blame us, the jury that acquitted Alrashim Chambers, to say that we had no choice.  But as I said I’m a student of philosophy and I can’t say that we had no choice unless there was in fact nothing else we could have done. 

We did have a choice.  In fact we did have to choose.  We had to choose who would be the victim of injustice: either Victoria Carmen White, whose murder would go unpunished, or Alrashim Chambers, who would be convicted despite the lack of sufficient evidence to overcome reasonable doubt.  We chose to keep our oaths as jurors and acquitted the defendant, thus visiting injustice upon Carmen.  If you’re going to be angry at us for doing so that is your prerogative.  All I ask is that you blame us for what we did, not for what we didn’t do.  We weren’t too stupid to understand the case.  We didn’t treat it frivolously.  We weren’t biased against Carmen.  We heard the case, deliberated it and in the end did our duty as specified in the oath we took.  If that makes us the bad guys…I can live with it.

Thanks for writing the post and shedding light on what happed from a juror's point of view.  But I too have served on a jury (an attempted capital murder trial) and understand what can happen in a jury room. 

You can live with that verdict Dennis, but we Black trans women in Essex County and around the country have to deal with the consequences of that verdict and the unspoken 'it's open season on Black trans women' message it sent.   

I'm just sayin'.

Cis Women Die From Silicone Pumping-Trans Women Pumpers Facing Murder Charges For It

Silicone pumping is just not a transfeminine phenomenon any more.  Cis women are increasingly getting pumped, paying the money and in some cases traveling long distances to do so at the hands of transwomen getting paid to do the pumping.. 

And in some cases those cis women are paying the ultimate price for that silicone injection that goes wrong at the hands of these unlicensed pumpers.   

While I'm not liking the total ineptitude of the Jackson, MS television stations to adhere to the AP Stylebook standards for reporting on transpeople, need to tell the stories and deal with the AP Stylebook violations later..

37 year old Karima Gordon of Atlanta served in the military and wanted to become a model.  She found 53 year old Tracey Lynn Garner after meeting someone on the Internet known as "Pebbles" and paying $200 for the pumping referral to Garner.

Gordon then drove to Mississippi in March with a friend to get pumped at Garner's house and became ill a few hours later.  Gordon endured a painful trip back to Atlanta where she died in a hospital a few days after the pumping procedure to enhance her buttocks.    The substance injected into Gordon was lab tested and according to authorities is alleged to be a counterfeit version of silicone.  



Garner was arrested September 6, denied bail Tuesday and is in jail (guess which side) facing a depraved heart murder charge.  It's a legal term for an action that demonstrates a "callous disregard for human life" and results in death and carries a life sentence.  Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood (D) said investigators were also looking for "Pebbles" the person who referred Gordon to Garner.

Tracy Ann Garner isn't the only trans pumper facing serious charges.  

In the Philadelphia area 42 year old pumper Padge Victoria Windslowe is facing third degree murder charges in the 2011 Claudia Aderotimi case. 

She was arrested in an unrelated case by Philadelphia police in March just as she was about to host another pumping party.   A 23 year old exotic dancer paid Windslowe $1000 in February to pump her, became seriously ill, was hospitalized and required intensive care..

Windslowe was being held on $750,000 bail in that February case on charges of aggravated assault and deceptive business practices before she was charged July 24 with third-degree murder in 20 year old Claudia Aderotimi's death, in addition to conspiracy, reckless endangerment, possessing an instrument of crime and unauthorized practice of medicine, aggravated assault and deceptive business practices.

Down I-95 south in Miami, serial pumper Oneal R. Morris is also in jail facing murder charges. 

She was not only pumping other people, as you can see by the photo she'd done some work on herself.

Morris was arrested and charged November 18, 2011 with practicing medicine without a license with serious bodily injury after a procedure she performed on transwoman Rajindra "Rajee" Narinesingh's face went badly 

Morris was arrested again a mere week later along with 40 year old co-defendant Corey Alexander Eubanks, after a second alleged pumping victim came forward. Like Narinesingh's cosmetic enhancements from Morris that went wrong, the alleged victim told Miami police that Morris had injected her buttocks with a mixture of cement, Fix-A-Flat and mineral oil. Morris and Eubanks were booked into Miami-Dade County jail.

In March 2012: Oneal Morris turned herself once again to face more charges of practicing medicine without a license and practicing medicine without a license resulting in serious injury, after three new victims, 41 year old Lournise Linton, 36 year old Ophelia Parker, and Tiffany Kennedy came forward to allege that in 2009 Morris, dressed as a nurse, gave them butt injections that left them disfigured.



Morris denied it in an interview that appeared on Entertainment Tonight for some reason, but she can't cavalierly slough off the current manslaughter charges she's facing in the wake of the March death of another one of her former pumping clients, 32 year old Shatarka Nuby.   

Nuby admitted to being treated by Morris prior to her death and paid hundreds of dollars to meet "Duchess' have her inject her Fix a Flat infused pumping cocktail into her breasts, thighs, hips and butt.      

Nuby's death was attributed to "massive systemic silicone migration." The injection sites had turned black and the silicone in Nuby's body hardened.

One of the major reasons the pumpers keep doing it because they are making serious money off of the cis and trans women who want to enhance their looks by any means necessary.

Those three pumpers I profiled may be in jail, but there are plenty of others willing to take their place.

CeCe McDonald's Trial Starts Today

CeCe McDonald's trial starts today in Minneapolis and is expected to last two weeks.   

Her case has been getting increased publicity in the last few weeks but not enough to stave off this trial from happening or getting District Attorney Michael Freeman to drop the charges.. 

Now that it's happening, for those of you in the Minneapolis St Paul metro area, it might be a wonderful idea to pack the courtroom in support of CeCe

All we can do now is watch it, pray and hope that justice prevails.

Nikki Araguz Update 16 - Next Court Date Set

The date for the summary judgment hearing in the Nikki Araguz trial in Wharton, TX has been set for December 8.  It isn't too far fetched to say that the trans communities in the state of Texas, nationally and around the world are hoping and praying for a positive outcome for Nikki.

The tension in this case just got jacked up another level in the wake of the midterm elections that put the conservafools solidly in control of the Texas legislature with a 99-51 edge in the Texas House, an 18-12 edge in the Texas Senate, having control of the governor's mansion and attorney general's seats, and eager for January 2011 to get here so they can blitzkrieg their racist and radical hate agenda through the Lege.

And as Darrell Steidley, Phyllis Frye and the gang at Frye and Associates continue battling in the court on Nikki's (and our) behalf, we in the Houston and Texas TBLG community are fighting the public ignorance and negative media spin in the Delgado v. Araguz case itooth and nail as well.  

But as UH Professor Maria Gonzales so eloquently stated in a recent op-ed, this is what we're fighting for:.

One day, Texas, like five other states, the District of Columbia, and many countries around the world, will grant its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens equal protection under the law, including the right to marry. When that happens, the dramas of dysfunctional families, even our families, will unfold around the dinner table, and perhaps in the quotidian business of the probate court, instead of in the media spotlight.

DeLee Trial Day 3

Well well, seems like we had some drama outside the courtroom yesterday. It seems there was an altercation outside the courthouse that Judge Walsh had to comment on prior to starting the courtroom proceedings today.

Judge William Walsh stated that he saw the altercation, or “melee,” on film and found it “appalling.” He said that the altercation, which resulted from threats made by friends and members of accused shooter DeLee's family, “disgraced the life and legacy of" the victim and that the case would not be decided on the streets of Syracuse, but in the courtroom. He warned the individuals in the gallery to behave properly and respectfully, and expressed absolutely no tolerance for improper behavior.

In the meantime, the prosecution and the defense both rested today. That means jury deliberations for the panel of six men and six women will start tomorrow after closing arguments from lawyers and legal instructions from Judge Walsh.

TLDEF legal intern Laura Vogel has the 411 about today's events.