![Daqua Lameek Ritter [right] was convicted in the brutal murder of trans woman Dime Doe.](https://i0.wp.com/qnotescarolinas.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SC-Trial-art.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1)
After a four-day long trial, South Carolina man Daqua Lameek Ritter was found guilty of a federal gender-based hate crime in connection with the 2019 killing of Black transgender woman Dime Doe. Prosecutors say this is the first conviction of its kind in United States history.
“This case is historic; this defendant is the first to be found guilty by trial verdict for a hate crime motivated by gender identity under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, with the US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement. “We want the Black trans community to know that you are seen and heard, that we stand with the LGBTQI+ community, and that we will use every tool available to seek justice for victims and their families.”
Ritter was convicted on all charges linked to the slaughter of Dime Doe, which included one federal firearms count, one obstruction count and a federal hate crime charge.
According to the prosecution’s account, Ritter lured Doe to a rural and isolated area in Allendale – which is roughly 70 miles southwest of Columbia. He shot Doe three times in the head because prosecutors said he was upset regarding rumors of Ritter’s relationship with Doe, which included assertions he was in a sexual relationship with her.
After the murder was committed, the prosecution said Ritter burned the clothes he was wearing that day, hid the murder weapon and continually lied to law enforcement throughout the course of the investigation.
“At trial, the government proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Ritter murdered Doe because of her gender identity,” the department said.
“The jury’s verdict sends a clear message: Black trans lives matter, bias-motivated violence will not be tolerated, and perpetrators of hate crimes will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Clarke said in her statement.
Ritter faces a potential life sentence for the murder of Doe, but a date hasn’t been set for his sentencing.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 32 transgender and gender-nonconforming people have been murdered in the last year. Half were Black transgender women, and more than 80 percent of were victims of color.
“Acts of violence against LGBTQI+ people, including transgender women of color like Dime Doe, are on the rise and have no place in our society,” Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer said in a statement. “No one should have to live in fear of deadly violence because of who they are.”