Man sentenced for obstructing justice in Allendale trans murder
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - A South Carolina man was sentenced Thursday to obstructing an investigation into the December 2019 murder of a transgender woman in Allendale County.
Xavier Pinckney, 24, was sentenced to 45 months in prison for providing false and misleading information to state authorities investigating the murder of Dime Doe. He previously pleaded guilty on Oct 26, 2023.
According to court documents, Pinckney itted that he concealed from the state authorities the use of his phone to call and text Doe the day of her murder, and he lied to state investigators about seeing his co-defendant, Daqua Ritter, on the morning of Doe’s murder.
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Ritter was convicted of a hate crime, firearms charge and obstruction of justice in a jury trial arising out of the Ritter’s murder of Doe. Ritter was the first defendant to be found guilty by trial verdict for a hate crime motivated by gender identity under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
Pinckney’s sentence “is part of our effort to fully seek justice and ability following the tragic murder of a Black transgender woman,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The message should be clear: The Justice Department will fully investigate and prosecute those who target the Black transgender community and that includes those who unlawfully obstruct investigations into these heinous crimes. We want the Black trans community to know that we stand with the LGBTQI+ community, we reject transphobic-fueled violence, and that we will seek justice for victims and their families.”
The FBI Columbia Field Office investigated the case, with the assistance of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, Allendale County Sheriff’s Office and Allendale Police Department.
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Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brook Andrews, Ben Garner and Elle Klein for the District of South Carolina and Trial Attorney Andrew Manns of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section prosecuted the case.
Deadly trend
In recent years, there has been a surge in attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, and Doe is one of several transgender and gender-fluid murder victims in the CSRA. Others include:
- The July 2022 murder of Keshia Geter at the Knights Inn hotel on Boy Scout Road in Augusta.
- The Augusta murder of 33-year-old Felycya Harris, whose body was found Oct. 3, 2020, at Meadowbrook Park.
- The March 12, 2020, murder of John Scott Devore, also known in the community as Scottlynn Devore.
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