Jury selection began Tuesday in a South Carolina courtroom for the first federal hate crime trial based on gender identity.
Daqua Lameek Ritter is facing life behind bars for the 2019 fatal shooting of Dime Doe, a black 24-year-old transgender woman.
Prosecutors claim Ritter’s friends and girlfriend found out he was allegedly in a sexual relationship with Doe and taunted him with homophobic slurs and other insults. Doe and Ritter had been close friends and were related through Ritter’s aunt and Doe’s uncle, but rumors of a sexual relationship triggered Ritter, who in turn became “extremely upset,” prosecutors alleged.
Ritter then coaxed Doe into driving to a rural county in South Carolina to meet up, according to the prosecution. When Doe arrived, Ritter allegedly shot her three times in the head. Authorities found Doe slumped over the wheel of her car.
Ritter then fled to New York but was arrested in 2023 on hate crime and murder charges.
“His crime was motivated by his anger at being mocked for having a sexual relationship with a transgender woman,” government lawyers wrote in a filing last January.
Prosecutors plan to present witness testimony about Ritter’s location and text messages with Doe, in which he allegedly persuaded her to take the ride. Evidence also includes video footage taken at a traffic stop that captures him in Doe’s car hours before her death. Prosecutors also plan to use DNA evidence from Doe’s car and testimony from people who claim Ritter privately confessed to them about killing her.
Ritter’s lawyers are expected to argue that the DNA found in the car only shows the two were friends and that Ritter had been in Doe’s car. The defense is also expected to argue that there is little physical proof that points to Ritter as the perpetrator. The defense is also expected to counter “inconsistent” witnesses’ claims that Ritter tried to dispose of Doe’s body.
Doe’s death took place as attacks against the LGBT community have been on the rise. Among the LGBT community, transgender women of color have faced the most abuse and are victims of disproportionately high rates of violence and hate crimes, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Tuesday’s trial marks the first time that a federal jury will decide whether to punish someone for a crime based on the victim’s gender identity, according to Brook Andrews, the assistant U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina.
Hate crimes can be prosecuted at a state level in 48 U.S. states. South Carolina and Wyoming are the only two that do not have hate crime laws, which is why the federal government stepped in. Currently, there is state hate crime legislation that has made its way through South Carolina’s House but has stalled in the state Senate.
The hate crime charge against Ritter carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. The obstruction of justice charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.
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While Tuesday’s trial is the first involving a hate crime in a federal court, the first conviction involving a victim targeted for their gender identity took place in 2017.
In that case, Joshua Vallum was sentenced to 49 years in prison after pleading guilty in the 2015 killing of 17-year-old Mercedes Williamson.