Angie Zapata’s Colorado Hate Crime Murder Trial: First for Transgender Victim?
“A landmark trial begins this week in Weld County, Colo. It is believed to be the first murder prosecution under hate-crime laws that involves a transgender victim [in Colorado?]. The case is last year’s brutal killing of Angie Zapata [nee Justin], an 18-year-old transgender woman who was attacked in her Greeley apartment. The suspect in the case is charged with a number of crimes, including first-degree murder and a “bias-motivated” or hate crime. Colorado was the first state in the nation to pass a hate-crime law, in 1988.” [Public News, earlier]
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Save us all! Even GLAAD got this wrong. No wonder it’s dying on the vine.
This is the first such trial IN COLORADO since gender identity was added to their hate crime laws, but it is NOT the first “in this country.”
In 2004, three men went on trial in California charged with the murder and hate crime of transgender Gwen Araujo. It might not have been the first either; but the Colorado trial definitely isn’t.