Here’s Why You Should Know About the Case of CeCe McDonald
CeCe McDonald is scheduled to be released from prison this month. This is a very big deal. Her case is a prime example of how the legal system can (and often does) work against protecting LGBTQ people.
If you haven’t been following CeCe’s case, here’s a recap: On June 5, 2011, CeCe McDonald, a 23-year-old black trans woman, and her friends were walking down a Minneapolis street. As they passed a bar, a 47-year-old white man named Dean Schmitz. began shouting racial slurs at CeCe. “Did you think you were going to rape somebody in those girl clothes?” he yelled. Schmitz and two other bar patrons then attacked CeCe. During the attack, a bar patron smashed a glass into CeCe’s face, slicing her cheek. CeCe pulled out a knife and held it in front of her. According to her testimony, Schmitz rushed her and impaled himself on her knife—he later died from the stab wound and CeCe was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. The woman who smashed glass into her face was never arrested or charged.
There were numerous problems in how the system treated CeCe: During pre-trial motions, the judge ruled against CeCe’s ability to introduce evidence showing that the attack against her was motivated by her race and gender identity. Both Schmitz’s tattoo of a swastika and his three previous convictions for violent assault were ruled inadmissible. The judge also refused to allow an expert witness to testify about the pervasive and systemic violence faced by trans people on a daily basis.
Faced with second-degree murder charges, a hostile court, and the possibility of being sentences to twenty to forty years, CeCe pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter due to negligence. She was sentenced to forty-one months in prison and was sent to a men’s prison. Upon arrival, prison medical staff reduced her prescribed dosage of hormones. A call-in campaign by supporters forced the prison to follow her prescription order.
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