Illinois man stands trial for killing of transgender woman Dejanay Stanton

More than eight years after a transgender woman in Illinois was shot and killed, her alleged attacker is standing trial.

Tremon Hill stood trial Wednesday for the 2018 murder of Dejanay Stanton, a Black trans woman, in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Hill, who was charged with first-degree murder in 2019, will face trial under Cook County Judge Pamela Stratigakis.

Hill is accused of luring Stanton into an alley and shooting her because he did not want her to reveal they had been sexually involved, The Advocate previously reported. Hill and Stanton exchanged text messages in which Hill, a teenager at the time, claimed to be an adult and said he wanted to meet her at a hotel, the Chicago Sun-Times previously reported.

Stanton “was living her life on her own terms,” said Jennifer Cooper, assistant state’s attorney, during opening statements Wednesday, according to the Chicago Tribune. “She was living her life as the person she wanted to be.”

Stanton’s family attended Wednesday’s hearing at the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Cook County, the Tribune reported.

In its argument, the prosecution pointed to an extensive text message history between Stanton and the defendant. Over text, Hill expressed fear that their relationship might be made public, the Tribune reported, and urged Stanton to delete the texts and photos he sent. These texts stopped at the time of Stanton’s death, The Advocate previously reported.

Additionally, police “found pants with ‘small red stains’ and other clothing that matched what surveillance video showed Hill was wearing the day of the murder,” the Sun-Times previously reported. Hill’s public defense team argued that Hill was not linked to the murder by witnesses or direct DNA evidence, according to the Tribune.

“The death of 24-year-old Dejanay Stanton is an absolute tragedy, and her family and her friends deserve answers,” said defense lawyer Sarah Anderson, according to the Tribune. “But the answer isn't Tremon Hill.”

“The evidence … will show the defendant’s increasing desperation to hide his secret, until finally he realized that the only way he could hide it was to kill the only person who knew about it,” said Cooper, according to the Tribune.

Stanton’s mother, Valerie Griffin, told the Tribune that she last saw her daughter as she was driving away from home, telling her, “I love you, mom.” Griffin said she only learned of her daughter’s death later through a Facebook post.

“It’s been a long eight years,” Griffin told the Tribune. “A painful eight years.”