This sends the message transgender lives matter and are protected by the law. But it is particularly significant he will also be sentenced on federal hate crime charges as well, in terms of acknowledging and giving visibility to the violence transgender people face. Vallum has already been sentenced to life in prison on a state murder charge. Williamson was 17 years old and resided in Alabama at the time of her death. The Human Rights Campaign reports at least 10 transgender people have been fatally shot or killed by other violent means so far this year. Joshua Brandon Vallum, 29, of Lucedale, Mississippi, pleaded guilty today to a federal hate crime for assaulting and murdering Mercedes Williamson because she was a transgender woman. This unfortunate trend has continued in 2017. Vallum picked up Mercedes Williamson, 17, at Dauphin Island. In 2016 alone, 27 transgender people were murdered across America, according to GLAAD. Latin Kings street gang member Josh Vallum pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday in the stabbing and beating death of a transgender teen. Vallum itself is subject to its own rules. Prosecutors maintain Vallum killed Williamson to hide their relationship from his fellow gang members. Transgender people, especially trans women of color, are frequently targets of violence in the United States. Vallum does not phone home and does nothing in order to monitor its usage. US District Judge Louis Guirola Jr could have ordered life in prison without parole for Joshua Vallum, 29, who pleaded guilty in December to hate crimes charges for murdering 17-year-old Mercedes. Vallum, a member of the Latin Kings gang, beat Williamson with a hammer, shocked her with a stun gun and stabbed her repeatedly, before hiding the 17-year-olds body in the woods near his house.
0 kommentar(er)
