Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/WJBF
A South Carolina man was convicted of a hate crime for the 2019 murder of a transgender woman in the conclusion to the first federal hate crime trial based on gender identity.
Daqua Lameek Ritter was found guilty of fatally shooting Dime Doe, whom he had been in a secret relationship with. Prosecutors alleged that Ritter shot Doe three times to prevent others from discovering that he was having an affair with a trans woman. They presented police interviews in which Ritter denied seeing Doe on the day she died, which contradicted photo evidence of the two of them in a car together.
Ritter’s friends gave conflicting testimony about specific actions he took after the murder, such as disposing of incriminating evidence like clothes and a handgun. But they agreed that his behavior turned erratic and on edge as rumors swirled that he had murdered Doe.