Two-timing man killed trans lover to keep affair secret after girlfriend's slur
The US's first-ever federal trial involving a hate crime based on gender identity has resulted in a man being found guilty of the killing of a Black transgender woman.
Daqua Lameek Ritter, 26, was convicted of murdering Dime Doe in 2019. Ritter was also found guilty of using a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting and obstructing justice and he faces a maximum of life imprisonment without parole after the jury deliberated for four hours before delivering their verdict.
Brook Andrews, an assistant US attorney for the District of South Carolina, said after the verdict: "This case stands as a testament to our committed effort to fight violence that is targeted against those who may identify as a member of the opposite sex, for their sexual orientation or for any other protected characteristics."
While federal officials have prosecuted hate crimes before based on gender identity, the cases never reached trial. A Mississippi man received a 49-year prison sentence in 2017 as part of a plea deal after he admitted to killing a 17-year-old transgender woman. The four-day trial over Doe's killing centred on the secret sexual relationship between her and South Carolina man Ritter, the latter of whom had grown agitated by the exposure of their affair in the small town of Allendale, according to witness testimony and text messages obtained by the FBI.
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Daqua Lameek Ritter, right, has been found guilty of killing his lover Dime DoeProsecutors accused Ritter of shooting Doe three times with a .22 calibre handgun to prevent further revelations being revealed of his involvement with a transgender woman. Prosecutors presented police interviews in which Ritter said he did not see Doe the day she died. But body camera video from a traffic stop of Doe showed Ritter's distinctive left wrist tattoo on a person in the passenger seat hours before police found her slumped in the car, parked in a driveway.
Defence lawyer Lindsey Vann argued at trial that no physical evidence pointed to Ritter. State law enforcement never processed a gunshot residue test that he took voluntarily, she said, and the pair's intimate relationship and frequent car rides made it no surprise that Ritter would have been with her.
Doe's close friends testified that it was no secret in Allendale that she had begun her social transition as a woman shortly after graduating from high school. She started dressing in skirts, getting her nails done and wearing extensions. She and her friends discussed boys they were seeing – including Ritter, whom she met during one of his many summertime visits from New York to stay with family.
But text messages obtained by the FBI suggested that Ritter sought to keep their relationship secret as far as he could, prosecutors said. He reminded her to delete their communications from her phone, and hundreds of texts sent in the month before her death were removed.
The transgender woman wanted more from her relationship with Ritter (Facebook)
Dime Doe was a sex worker who was having an affair with Daqua Lameek Ritter (Facebook)Shortly before Doe's death, their exchanges took on a more tense slant. In one message from July 29, 2019, she complained that Ritter did not reciprocate her generosity. He replied that he thought they had an understanding that she didn't need the "extra stuff". He also told her that Delasia Green, his main girlfriend at the time, had insulted him with a homophobic slur after learning of the affair. In a text from July 31, Doe said she felt used and Ritter should never have let Green find out about them.
Ritter's defence attorneys said the sampling represented only a "snapshot" of their messages. They pointed to other exchanges where Doe encouraged Ritter, or where he thanked her for one of her many kindnesses. However, witnesses that were brought forward who gave other damaging testimony.
On the day Doe died, a group of friends saw Ritter in a silver car with tinted windows – a vehicle that Ritter's acquaintance Kordell Jenkins said he had seen Doe drive previously. When Ritter returned several hours later, Jenkins said, he wore a new outfit and appeared "on edge".
The friends built a fire in a barrel to smoke out mosquitoes, and Ritter emptied his book bag into it, Jenkins testified. He said he couldn't see the contents but assumed they were items Ritter no longer wanted, possibly the clothes he wore earlier. The two interacted with each other the following day, Jenkins said, and he could see the silver handle of a small firearm sticking out from Ritter's waistline. He said Ritter asked him to "get it gone".
The defence attorneys suggested Jenkins made up the story at the behest of prosecutors and argued it was preposterous to think Ritter would ask someone he barely knew to dispose of a murder weapon. They said Ritter's friends gave conflicting accounts about details such as the purported burning of his clothes while facing the threat of prosecution if they failed to co-operate.
His lover Green said that when he appeared days later at her cousin's house in Columbia, he was dirty, smelly and couldn't stop pacing. Her cousin's boyfriend gave Ritter a ride to the bus stop. Before he left, Green asked him if he had killed Doe and she said that he "dropped his head and gave me a little smirk".
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