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Jorge Sanders-Galvez was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Kedarie Johnson.
A jury in Iowa today reached a guilty verdict in the trial of the first of two men charged with killing gender-fluid 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson last year.
The jury in South Lee County took less than 90 minutes to find Jorge Sanders-Galvez, 23, guilty of first-degree murder, The Des Moines Register reports. He will be sentenced later, but the mandatory minimum sentence for first-degree murder in Iowa is life in prison without possibility of parole.
Johnson, who also went by Kandicee, was found shot to death in an alley in Burlington, Iowa, in March 2016. The youth was assigned male at birth but had a fluid identity and often wore women's clothing. Prosecutors suggested that Sanders-Galvez and codefendant Jaron Purham, 26, were motivated to kill Johnson because of the teen's identity. Johnson had been shot twice in the chest and was also gagged. The youth was one of 27 known gender-fluid or transgender homicide victims in 2017.
The case was not prosecuted as a hate crime because Iowa's hate-crimes law does not cover crimes based on gender identity, the Register notes, but the U.S. Department of Justice did send an attorney to assist local prosecutors, as federal hate-crimes law includes gender identity.
"The federal authorities are investigating the case as a federal hate crime, and so they would like to be part of the state case for seamless prosecution, should an indictment in federal court be handed down," Des Moines County Attorney Amy Beavers said in October, according to the Register. Burlington is in Des Moines County, but the trial took place in nearby South Lee County, in the second change of venue granted in the case.
Sanders-Galvez testified Thursday that he did not kill Johnson, did not even know the youth, and was not at the scene of the crime, a house in Burlington, at the time the teen was killed, the Register reports, but jurors were unconvinced.
Johnson was a junior at Burlington High School and enjoyed singing and dancing, according to friends and family members. The youth's mother, Kendra Johnson, burst into tears as the verdict was read and could be overheard saying, "Justice was served for my baby!" the Register reports.
