this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2026
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A Tennessee court has overturned the conviction of a man who killed a Black transgender woman, ruling that a lower court “erred” by preventing the killer from using the victim’s trans identity in his defense.

Samuel Ward Jr. shot Paris Lee six times outside her Memphis home in June 2022, according to the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. He then drove 30 minutes home, leaving her to die. Ward was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in May 2025.

But the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in Jackson overturned that conviction on Monday and ordered a retrial. The trial court’s judge had disallowed the defense from presenting the victim’s identity as a transgender woman in its arguments.

“The trial court erred by excluding evidence of the victim’s assigned sex at birth, [and] the evidence was insufficient to support [Ward’s] conviction,” reads the Monday appellate court decision. “Because we conclude that the trial court erred… we reverse and remand this case for a new trial.”

The defense had argued it would be more reasonable for Ward to fear Lee if jurors knew she was assigned male at birth, and said jurors would be more prejudiced against Ward for killing a cisgender woman, according to Jamie Satterfield, an independent journalist who first reported the ruling.

The gay panic defenses has not gone away. Also, this rings of saying its not murder because transgender people aren't people.

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[–] neatchee@piefed.social 9 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

if I'm being extremely generous their (still very fucked up) argument is that a jury would be more likely to believe there was an imminent threat of harm from a "biological male" than a "biological female". They might even be correct with regards to how the information would impact the views of a Tennessee jury.

Still completely fucked and demonstrates a huge part of what's wrong with our judicial system. Everything a jury needs to know about whether a person would reasonably feel in imminent danger can be described without ever mentioning sex or gender.