![]() ![]() Prosecutors have said Vallum knew of Williamson’s transgender status long before he killed her. He said he ‘‘blacked out’’ and doesn’t remember the crime, a variation of what’s known as a ‘‘gay panic’’ or ‘‘trans panic’’ defense. On Monday, he was sentenced to 49 years in prison for a. When he was only two or three he was reportedly locked in a room by his mother for hours on end while the adults in the house 'did. In his defense, Vallum initially told sheriff’s deputies and later told The Sun Herald newspaper that he found out that Williamson had a penis on May 30, 2015, moments before he killed her. Joshua Vallum is scheduled to appear before a federal judge Monday in Gulfport, Mississippi, after pleading guilty in December to hate crimes charges in the 2015 death of 17-year-old Mercedes. Joshua Vallum is sworn in before pleading guilty to state murder charges at George County Circuit Court in Lucedale, Miss., last July. Jousha Vallum, 29, is said to have had a neglected childhood. Prosecutors say Vallum and Williamson dated and that Vallum killed Williamson because he worried fellow gang members would discover their relationship and kill both of them because gay sex was strictly forbidden by the gang. ![]() ![]() Williamson was born male but transitioned to female. He admitted to killing her in 2015 after they ended their relationship, in an effort to keep the fact that she was transgender a secret. The case had been closely watched by LGBT groups nationwide, who cite studies showing transgender people are particularly likely to be victims of violent crimes.Ī 2009 federal hate crimes law included protections for gay and transgender people, but of the 47 people prosecuted during the period reviewed by The Associated Press, none were for offenses against transgender people. A gang member was sentenced to 49 years in prison on Monday for the murder of a transgender teen, in the first ever transgender hate crime prosecution under a 2009 federal law. ET In December 2016, Joshua Vallum pleaded guilty to hate crime charges in the death of his then-17-year-old transgender girlfriend, Mercedes Williamson. ![]()
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