Erin Rook

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Killer of Transgender Teen Gwen Araujo Granted Parole After 14 Years

 

Gwen Araujo

Gwen Araujo

One of the men convicted in the brutal 2002 murder of a transgender teen has been approved for parole after serving 14 years in prison, NBC Bay Area reports.

Jose Merél was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2002 beating death of Gwen Araujo, in which he and another young man killed the 17-year-old after discovering she was transgender. Merél was sentenced to 15 years to life. The parole approval is the first step in a five-month process leading to his release from custody.

The night Araujo was murdered, she attended a party at Merél’s home. At the party, Araujo was interrogated about her gender and discovered to be trans.  Two of the men who’d had sex with Araujo — Merél and Michael Magidson — became enraged and began to assault her. Two other men, Jaron Nabors and Jason Casarez, witnessed the assault and left to get tools to bury the teen’s body after she was beaten and strangled to death.

During trial, attorneys for Merél and Magidson used a “trans panic” defense to avoid a hate crime enhancement, arguing that the men lost it after discovering they had sex with a transgender woman, rather than a cisgender one.

Araujo’s death inspired California to pass Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act in 2006, which limited the use of the “gay/trans panic” defense. In 2014, that law was strengthened by the passage of a law prohibiting defendants from even invoking the so-called defense.

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Transgender Woman Settles in Court After Profiling Landed Her in Jail

 

A Black transgender woman who spent 8 days in jail after being falsely accused of prostitution by the hotel she was staying at has settled her lawsuit against the Iowa hotel in court, The Guardian reports. The details of the settlement have not been released due to a confidentiality agreement.

Meagan Taylor checked into the Drury Inn in West Des Moines, Iowa, last July with a friend—also a Black transgender woman—during a trip to Kansas City for a funeral. But despite the somber, and fairly typical, reason for their stay, hotel staff called police to report that the two women were “two men” engaged in prostitution after seeing that Taylor’s ID included her birth name and “male” gender marker. It’s not uncommon for transgender people’s ID not to match their gender identity or presentation due to the challenges associated with changing gender on personal identity documents.

When police arrived, they arrested Taylor for charges including not having her hormone prescription with her. She was jailed for eight days and the charges were later dropped.

“Meagan’s case garnered national attention and has been an important reminder to those in the criminal justice system and who run businesses and other public accommodations in Iowa that transgender people are explicitly protected by our civil rights laws from discriminatory treatment,” Rita Bettis, ACLU of Iowa legal director, told The Guardian. Iowa is one of just 16 states that provides such protections. “Given the attack on transgender people happening across the country, we in Iowa are proud and thankful to work in a place where transgender people are afforded dignity and protection under our state law.”

Taylor’s isn’t the first high-profile case of profiling trans women of color as prostitutes. Arizona trans activist Monica Jones was arrested in 2014 while walking down the street with friends for “manifesting prostitution.” Though she was convicted, that conviction was later vacated.

Megan Taylor has settled her lawsuit against the Iowa hotel that got her put in jail.

Megan Taylor has settled her lawsuit against the Iowa hotel that got her put in jail. Whitney Curtis/ACLU of Iowa