Man Charged With Hate Crime in Killing Of Latiesha Green

[ccharles000]

From the Poughkeepsie Journal:

SYRACUSE - A Syracuse man has been indicted on a hate crime charge in a killing prosecutors said was prompted by the victim's sexual orientation.
An Onondaga County grand jury handed down the indictment Friday, charging Dwight DeLee with murder as a hate crime, murder and a weapons possession charge.

District Attorney William Fitzpatrick says DeLee shot Moses Cannon dead Nov. 14 after hearing comments about Cannon's sexual orientation. Moses Cannon was living as a woman, using the name Latiesha Green. Relatives have described him as transsexual.

Although Latiesha identified herself as a transsexual, the hate crime aspect of the charge is coming from how the killer perceived Latiesha as gay. Apparently, New York's hate crime law doesn't specifically list gender identity and expression as a protected class.

Donna Rose has this to say about the news in the comment section (I verified with Donna that she actually made the comment), as well as how the Poughkeepsie Journal didn't follow the Associated Press Stylebook in how they referred to Latiesha Green by male pronouns:


ender identity or expression is not covered under NY State Hate Crime statues. In this case the murder is being treated as a hate crime because it was based on Lateisha's "perceived" sexual orientation. As you rightly point out , the most significant problem with the way this story is written is the incorrect pronoun use.
The way that the NY Hate Crimes Act of 2000 is written, a hate crime can be charged if the defendant:


"Intentionally selects the person against whom the offense is committed or intended to be committed in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct".
In California, I know gender is defined by legal definition to specifically cover the gender identity or expression of trans people, but I personally don't know how the state of New York defines gender -- if one of the legal eagles here at The Blend could clue us in on the legal status of trans people related to New York hate crime laws, please do so in this thread's comments.

I'm glad that the alleged killer is being prosecuted. If Dwight DeLee is found guilty of the crimes he's alleged to have committed against Latiesha Green, the Poughkeepsie Journal states that he'd face up to 25 years to life for the crimes.

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/

[imdjh]

1. Murder

The 20-year-old DeLee faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted..

Is this correct as written? Up to 25 years to life? What does that mean? Or is it supposed to read, "faces 25 years to life"?

[ccharles000]

2. I don't know

[imdjh]

4. I mostly wanted to K&R

I have to say, I'm a bit disturbed that someone was murdered and a person commenting on the crime feels it's important to complain about pronouns. This especially when it seems fairly certain that the point of the article was to make the circumstances clear to the readers. It's also quite possible that Lateisha's family actually did use male pronouns for Lateisha.

[ccharles000]

3. kick