A Colorado man who says he beat his date to death with a fire extinguisher after discovering she was biologically male has been convicted of first-degree murder and a hate crime. Murdered: Angie Zapata A jury found Allen Ray Andrade, 32, guilty of killing Angie Zapata, 18, despite Andrade's lawyer arguing that Zapata's female appearance had "deceived" him, reports the LA Times. Prosecutors say Andrade knew Zapata was biologically male for 36 hours before the attack, and killed her out of hatred for homosexuals. Zapata's family told the court that she had dressed and lived as a female for much of her life. Her mother Maria Zapata told the judge "it's been so hard, so hard for my family and myself… I lost something, somebody so precious." The trial marks the first time the state of Colarado's gender identity-inclusive hate crimes statute has been applied in the investigation and prosecution of an anti-transgender murder case. Zapata's family remember Angie on the YouTube tribute shown below.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Saturday, 25th April 2009 - 12:14pm