Transgendered prostitute given 11 years

Transgendered prostitute Jamie Cid, convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing an elderly man, was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Cid, 31, was convicted by a jury of the beating death of Jack Jamar, 78, in the man's Ventura, Calif., home in March 2000. Prosecutors sought a first-degree murder conviction, claiming Cid attacked Jamar with plans to rob him. Cid took Jamar's wallet after the attack and fled. The defense argued that Cid acted in self-defense after Jamar tried to rape her. Jurors rejected the prosecution's theory and opted for lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter and petty theft. Superior court judge Roland Purnell on Thursday sentenced Cid to the maximum for voluntary manslaughter. "In my view, the defendant is a dangerous person, and this was an extremely violent crime," Purnell said. "In addition, I find that the victim was particularly vulnerable [because of his age]." Defense attorney Robert Sheahen asked for probation instead of prison because of Cid's lifetime of "suffering" as a transgendered female. Cid dresses as a woman and wanted a sex-change operation but could not afford one. "He is a woman trapped in the body of a man," Sheahen said.