Hate Crimes Prevention Act – criminalizes violence based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. The man, Joshua Vallum, 29, killed Mercedes Williamson in May 2015, after the end of their relationship, because a friend learned that she was transgender, a fact Mr. “The Justice Department will continue its efforts to vindicate the rights of those individuals who are affected by bias motivated crimes.”Ī federal law – the Matthew Shepard, James Byrd Jr. “Today’s sentencing reflects the importance of holding individuals accountable when they commit violent acts against transgender individuals,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. Vallum had previously pleaded guilty in state court to murder charges in George County, Mississippi, and was sentenced to life in prison.īecause Mississippi does not have a statute that protects people from bias crimes based on gender identity, the federal government was able to bring federal hate crime charges. He would not have killed Williamson if she was not transgender, he said. In his guilty plea to the hate crime on December 21, he admitted to lying about the circumstances surrounding her death. Vallum initially claimed he killed Williamson in a panic after learning she was transgender. As she tried to flee he stabbed her repeatedly and used a hammer to deliver deadly blows, the Justice Department said.
Transgender hate crime guilty plea in federal court a firstĪfter luring the 17-year-old into his car under false pretenses, he assaulted her and stabbed her with a pocket knife, prosecutors said. A Lucedale man pleads guilty to a federal hate crime for assaulting and murdering Mercedes Williamson because she was a transgender woman. Who is Joshua Vallum The first man to be jailed under new US law for targeting a transgender person Joshua Vallum was sentenced to jail for killing his transgender girlfriend Mercedes. Vallum, a member of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation crime gang, feared reprisals from gang members if they found out about the relationship, the Justice Department said.
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