Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

We learn about the violent death of a trans neighbor, we mourn. But too often we don’t know what happens in the criminal proceedings. Is there justice? What does that look like?

I don’t have answers to the larger questions, but I did go back and plow through the criminal dockets to determine where the cases for the nine individuals lost to violent murder stand as of now. These things change in a heartbeat, so before I hit ‘publish’ on this post something could change in any case. The point is that we should continue to pay attention. Perhaps if we paid as much attention to the criminal cases around the murders as we do to the criminal histories of the victims, we’d get somewhere.

I’ll be going back further in the next few weeks.

Monica Loera was murdered in front of her home on January 22, 2016 in Austin, Texas. JonCasey William Rowell has been arrested. He has a trial date on May 3, 2016. I assume it is a preliminary hearing, but I can’t quite figure out their docket site.

Jasmine Sierra was also murdered in her home on January 22, 2016 in Bakersfield, California. To my knowledge, there has been no arrest.

Kayden Clarke, a 24 year old trans man, was killed by police in his home in Mesa, Arizona. The unnamed police officers are under internal investigation.

Maya Young was murdered on February 20 in Philadelphia. Tiffany Floyd, 24, and Jose Pena 19, who have been indicted on charges of murder and conspiracy are scheduled to have preliminary hearings on June 7th at the Criminal Justice Center. Both Floyd and Pena have been denied bail and remain in custody.

Demarkis Stansberry, a 30 year old trans man of color, was shot to death in Baton Rouge on February 27 by Nicholas Matthews. Matthews turned himself into police, claiming he didn’t realize his handgun was loaded. He has been charged with negligent homicide, illegal use of a weapon, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Kedarie/Kandicee Johnson was a 16 year old gender fluid and trans youth, shot to death in Burlington Iowa on March 2. As of last week, local police confirmed that they did not believe their death was random, but would offer no further details.

Quartney Davia Dawsonn-Yochum was shot on March 22 in Los Angeles by an ex-partner. He was detained at the scene by witnesses and security guards until police arrived and he is now under arrest.

Shante Thompson was beaten and then shot to death in Houston on April 9, along with a male friend names Willie Sims. One person of interest has been identified by the police among the group that reportedly murdered the two.

Keyonna Monroe Blakeney was found murdered in Rockville, Maryland on April 16. No word on suspects or motive as of yet.

If you have updates to share in the comments, I’d appreciate it – please post links, too. Thank you.