Transgender killing gets man 25 years

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — An upstate New York man has been sentenced to the maximum 25 years in prison for the hate-crime killing of a transgender woman.

Dwight DeLee was found guilty of manslaughter last month for shooting Lateisha Green because of anti-gay bias.

The 20-year-old construction laborer is only the second person in the nation to be convicted of a hate crime for killing a transgender victim. In April, a man was convicted of first-degree murder and a hate crime in the death of a transgender teen in Colorado.

Green, 22, was born and raised in Syracuse as Moses Cannon. At age 16, Green came out as transgender and began living as a girl.

She faced bullies and threats at school but had a supportive family, said Michael Silverman, director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, which has worked closely with Green’s family.

In November, Green and her brother, Mark Cannon, drove to a small house party. When they arrived, several guests started yelling slurs about Green’s sexuality, witnesses later testified.

Green was sitting with her brother in their car outside the house when DeLee walked up, raised a .22-caliber rifle and fired a single shot.

DeLee was acquitted of murder.

The manslaughter conviction means he intended to injure, not kill, his victim.