Two South Carolina men have been charged with hate crimes in connection with
the murder of transgender woman Pebbles LaDime “Dime” Doe in
2019.
Doe was shot
to death in Allendale County, S.C., August 4, 2019. Her body was found in a car
there. A federal indictment, unsealed Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the District of South Carolina, charges Daqua Ritter, 26, with a hate crime
for the murder of Doe because of her gender identity, using a firearm in
connection with the hate crime, and obstruction of justice, according to
a press release.
The indictment
also charges Xavier Pinckney, 24, with two obstruction offenses for providing
false and misleading statements to authorities investigating the murder.
“The
indictment alleges that … Ritter shot Doe, a transgender woman, because of her
actual and perceived gender identity,” the press release says. Ritter is also
charged with misleading state investigators about his whereabouts the day of
the murder.
Authorities
further allege in the indictment that Pinckney concealed from state
investigators the use of his phone to call and text Doe the day of the murder
and lied to state and federal investigators about seeing Ritter after the
morning of the murder.
The hate crime
count against Ritter carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The counts
charging Ritter and Pinckney with obstruction of justice carry a maximum
penalty of 20 years in prison. The count charging Pinckney with lying to
federal investigators carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The FBI’s
Columbia, S.C., Field Office investigated the case, assisted by the South
Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
Doe’s death
was the second killing of a trans woman in South Carolina within the same month
and the 14th of 2019.
SOURCE: ADVOCATE
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