V. Sivills
Age 284 Nov 1988
Portsmouth, Virginia (USA)
Run over
TDoR list ref: tdor.info/4 Nov 1988
V. died from head injuries after falling or being pushed from a vehicle by Michael O'Donnell and Joseph P. Stone.
PORTSMOUTH - Two white men charged in the death of a black [trans woman sex worker] both pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in separate trials in May, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Charles Prentace.
Joseph Paul Stone, 26, pleaded guilty May 2 to voluntary manslaughter and to hit and run with injuries in the death of [deadname] Sivills. Police said Sivills either jumped or was forced from Stone's pickup truck Nov. 3, 1988. Police found Sivills, 28, unconscious on the Effingham St. ramp to 1-264 in Portsmouth. [She] died of massive head injuries Nov. 4.
Michael A. O'Donnell, 26, pleaded guilty May 5 to voluntary manslaughter in Sivills death. A charge of failing to report a hit and-run accident with injuries was dropped. Prentace said Stone's plea agreement calls for him to receive a suspended sentence of 15 years in prison and serve four years of supervised probation. O'Donnell's plea agreement calls for a suspended three-year prison sentence, said Prentace. Prentace said he expects Judge Richard Bray to abide by the plea agreements when he sentences Stone on June 26 and O'Donnell on July 10.
Under the agreements, O'Donnell was to testify against Stone, who had been charged with 2nd degree murder. However, O'Donnell could not testify that he had seen Sivills in Stone's truck because he could not identify photographs of Sivills dressed as a man. Sivills was wearing a dress and wig when [she] was in Stone's truck.
Prentace said he agreed to Stone's plea to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaugter because other witnesses, both [trans], who saw Sivills get in Stone's truck did not testify at Stone's trial. One witness was in the hospital with AIDS. Prentace said he suspects the other one, who could not be found, was in a local jail during the trial.
Shortly after his arrest, O'Donnell told a Portsmouth police officer, "All faggots deserve to die anyway," according to police testimony at a Dec. 1988 hearing.
Prentace said evidence summarized at the trials indicated that O'Donnell and Stone picked up Sivills from downtown Portsmouth after drinking beer in Stone's truck. Prentace said Sivills told the men that she wanted $30 from each of them for sex. Stone then pointed a pistol at Sivills and said, "This is going to be for free," said Prentace. Then Sivills became agitated and either jumped out of the truck or was forced out as it was moving about 40 mph.
Although Stone and O'Donnell saw Sivills stand up and fall down, they did not stop or call the police, said Prentace. Instead, Stone drove to a 7-Eleven to buy more beer and went back downtown, where police arrested the two men.
https://dc.lib.odu.edu/digital/collection/ourown/id/2484/
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10_JeZ7LEIRhvewTCoL5mVkH6MQJzf7fSXl4-P6QJ0v0/edit#gid=0
