News
2007-09-01
Transwoman's
attacker gets probation
A teenager who
severely beat a transwoman on a Florida beach after
learning she was biologically male has been sentenced to a
yea
A teenager who
severely beat a transwoman on a Florida beach after
learning she was biologically male has been sentenced to a
year's probation, the Palm Beach Post reported.
The 17-year-old
had been charged with aggravated battery in the July 2006
incident. Palm Beach County juvenile court judge Peter Blanc
on Thursday rejected prosecutors' pleas that he be
locked up and is likely to reoffend.
Blanc, while
scoffing at the teen's contention that he had acted in
self-defense, also declined to consider the attack as a hate
crime.
"In many ways it
appears from the testimony that was presented here
that there are two victims in the case," the Post
quoted him as saying.
The teen, whom
authorities declined to identify because he was a minor,
had been drinking with a friend when he met up with the
39-year-old transwoman and agreed to have sex on the
beach. That plan was aborted when he learned his
companion had "male organs," the Post reported.
The teen left,
but returned to the beach to beat the victim, a fact
prosecutors cited in seeking a tough sentence.
Palm Beach police
sergeant Jennifer Sandman testified at last month's
trial that he seemed arrogant and told her he beat the
victim until his hand was sore, the Post
reported. Someone on the lifeguard tower at the beach
that night testified the teen slammed the victim's head into
the lifeguard stand so hard that he could feel it shake, the
paper said.
The victim did
not appear in court or respond to several court requests
to make a statement that could be factored into the judge's
consideration at sentencing.
Meanwhile, the
Post said, the defendant's father was outraged that
prosecutors did not charge his victim for sexual contact
with a 17-year-old, a second-degree felony. The youth
has been under house arrest since the incident.
(Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)
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