A Minneapolis man was sentenced to more than three decades in jail for killing a transgender woman in November, despite prosecutors’ inability to prove the crime was motivated by hatred.
Damarean Kaylon Bible, 25, was sentenced to 367 months — or nearly 31 years — in prison for second-degree murder after fatally shooting Savannah Ryan Williams, a 38-year-old trans woman who was well-known in the local trans community, according to NBC affiliate KARE in Minneapolis.
“This senseless act of violence against a Native and Cuban transgender woman has left a family without a daughter, a partner without their person, and a community without the vibrant light that Savannah uniquely brought to every room she was in,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a press conference following the sentencing. “Savannah deserved safety.”
Bible said police he shot Williams after a sex act because he was “suspicious” of her. After a comprehensive investigation, Moriarty stated that her office was unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime was motivated by bias, but that hatred could still have played a role.
“The fact that we could not charge this as a bias crime does not change the impact that this crime has had on making our trans community feel less safe,” Moriarty claimed, according to KARE. “Hateful acts of violence against transgender individuals are on the upswing around the country, including in our neighborhood. Every time a transgender person is attacked, the entire community feels unsafe.”
Moriarty stated that Williams’ murder is part of a recent trend of increased violence against trans people, particularly trans persons of color. According to a 2021 analysis from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, transgender people are four times more likely to be victims of violent crimes than cisgender people.
Since 2013, the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ rights organization, has identified 335 trans and gender-nonconforming people who have been viciously assassinated, with 85% of them being trans people of color. According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 25 trans and gender-expansive people have been savagely assassinated this year.
Williams’ mother, Kim Stillday, has described her daughter as her best friend.
“Savannah still lives on,” she stated through tears in a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. “Her memory makes us laugh and smile.”
Gabrielle Stillday, one of Williams’ sisters, said she never got to say goodbye to her sister. “But something I’ll always remember she told me was to never say goodbye, to say, ‘See you later,'” Stillday said during a news conference, according to KARE.
Kelly Stillday, Williams’ other sister, stated that Bible’s acts “have forever stained our lives with grief,” according to KARE.
“It shows you, Savannah was a magnet,” Kelly Stillday remarked. “She pulled everyone towards her, including the defendant.”
According to Minnesota Public Radio, Bible spoke briefly to Williams’ family during Wednesday’s hearing.
“I completely apologize,” Bible replied. “I feel like I do need to sit down and do some time.”
Minnesota state Rep. Leigh Finke, the state’s first transgender legislator, stated that the governing body’s Queer Caucus will continue to “do everything in our power at the Capitol to solve this crisis” of violence against trans people.
“Savannah Ryan Williams was a beloved member of the trans and Two Spirit community, and she should be alive today,” Finke stated, according to KARE. “The data is clear that trans people, especially trans people of color, suffer violence at rates far greater than our cisgender neighbors.”
+ There are no comments
Add yours