DALLAS (AP) — A man charged in the 2019 fatal shooting of a transgender Dallas woman about a month after she was beaten in a separate attack that was caught on…
A man charged in the 2019 fatal shooting of a transgender Dallas woman about a month after she was beaten in a separate attack that was caught on video was sentenced Monday to 48 years in prison.
Kendrell Lyles, 37, entered a guilty plea to murder just before jury selection was set to begin in his trial in the death of 22-year-old Muhlaysia Booker.
Booker had been shaken but resolute when she spoke at a rally held for her after several men beat her following a minor traffic accident. She told supporters then: “This time, I can stand before you, whereas in other scenarios, we are at a memorial.”
The violence that befell Booker in her short life exemplifies threats faced by transgender people, and especially Black transgender women, across the U.S. Booker told police that the people who attacked her after the traffic accident used homophobic slurs. Authorities haven’t publicly revealed a motive for her killing but have said it was unrelated to the earlier assault.
Texas is among states where transgender people have been targeted with a growing number of laws and policies, including restrictions on gender-affirming care, public bathroom use and participation in sports.
Here’s what to know about Booker’s killing:
WHAT HAVE POLICE SAID?
Booker’s body was found the morning of May 18, 2019, on a Dallas street.
Police said they identified Lyles as the suspect while investigating the deaths of a man and woman who were killed in separate shootings in the days after Booker’s slaying. Lyles also has been charged in the deaths of those two victims, neither of whom were transgender, according to police.
