➤ DETROIT MURDERS, from p.22
view that the victims were targeted
and Michigan hate crime law that
includes protections based on both
sexual orientation and gender —
though not specifi cally gender
identity — Robinson did not face
hate crime enhancements to the
charges against him.
According to a November Detroit
News story about the incident, the
May 25 shooting occurred following
a party of about 15 people.
Hours before the shooting, witness
Clifton Keys and his friends, including
Cameron, met Robinson at
a nearby gas station — an encounter
confi rmed by video surveillance
footage.
Keys explained that Cameron
was attracted to Robsinon and invited
him to the party.
Robinson proceeded to walk to
the house where the party was
taking place, but later left with a
“blank” face after he was “hugged
up” with Cameron, according to
Keys’ testimony.
Robinson later returned to the
house where the party was taking
place donning a black ski mask
and black ski cap and sprayed at
least 20 bullets into the attendees,
according to witnesses, killing Davis,
Blancher, and Cameron. Two
others were also shot and wounded.
Armon Matthews, who was in
the home at the time of the shooting
and managed to fl ee to the
basement, said in court, “It was
just crazy … shocking. We didn’t
see it coming.”
Robinson is scheduled to be sentenced
on April 13 and is facing up
to life in prison without parole.
The Human Rights Campaign
has so far tallied at least three
other transgender or gender nonbinary
people who have been killed
by violent means this year. Neulisa
Luciano Ruiz and Yampi Méndez
Arocho were both murdered in
Puerto Rico, while Dustin Parker
was killed in Oklahoma.
➤ PRISON RAPES, from p.22
was raped in October of 2017, according
to the suit.
“I was sexually assaulted by
other inmates,” Miller told Jamaican
news outlet The Star. “It was
very diffi cult. They didn’t move me
over to the female side when the
abuse initially happened but they
did when the guys had started
fi ghting over me and after my lawyer
got involved.”
When offi cials at the jail, which
is located at 80 29th Street between
Second and Third Avenue
in the Industry City section, fi nally
moved Miller to a holding area for
women she endured further abuse,
she said. Bureau of Prisons correction
offi cers went on to harass and
intimidate her, according to the
lawsuit.
“I served the fi rst fi ve months
of my sentence on the ‘male’ side
because they needed some form
of classifi cation as it relates to my
gender, although my documents
state that I am a female,” Miller explained
to The Star.
Miller was receiving hormone
therapy at the time of her incarceration
and had already undergone
gender confi rmation surgery.
Meanwhile, Powell elaborated on
the abuse she suffered before she
was transferred out of the men’s
section of the jail.
“Almost every day between May
18, 2017 and January of 2018
when I was ultimately transferred,
I was sexually assaulted, raped,
abused, forced to perform acts of
sodomy upon other inmates who
were known ‘Bloods’ and ‘YG’ gang
members,” Powell’s stated in court
documents.
The Star reported that Powell
and Miller were busted for scamming
a Maryland-based couple
suffering from dementia, a 79-yearold
teacher from Brooklyn, an
89-year-old man in Florida, and a
woman in her 90s living at a retirement
home. The pair scammed the
seniors by informing them they
won the lottery and requiring them
to disclose personal information
about their fi nances or pay “taxes,”
according to the Daily News.
Miller told the Star she is worried
that she could be deported
back to Jamaica.
“There were more opportunities
and acceptance for transgender
people in the United States,” Miller
said. “Jamaica is not safe to make
a choice like this one. I constantly
had to live in fear and was constantly
discriminated against. The
thing is it wasn’t just by strangers
alone but family also.”
NEW CARD
DESIGN!
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