Deeniquia Dodds ("Dee Dee")
Age 2213 Jul 2016
Washington, D.C. (USA)
Shot
TDoR list ref: tgeu/13-Jul-2016/Deeniquia Dodds
Dee Dee was shot in the neck during an attempted robbery just around the corner from the house where she lived with her family.
She was placed on life support but died nine days later.
Jalonte Little, Monte T. Johnson and Cyheme Hall were subsequently charged for robbery conspiracy and first-degree felony murder – a murder which prosecutors said was motivated by her gender identity.
Mic reports that Dodd was also involved with Casa Ruby, a D.C.–area LGBTQ advocacy organization. In statement to Mic, founder Ruby Coronado said, "Deeniquia was part of the Casa Ruby family, and she is gone, but not forgotten. Her death will not be in vain."
Four men were charged in connection with Dee Dee's murder. Shareem Hall, 27, and his brother, Cyheme Hall, 25, accepted a plea bargain and pled guilty to second degree murder before the start of the trial in 2019. On 30th September 2021 Jolonta Little, 30, and Monte T. Johnson, 25, then pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Hall told the jury that it was Johnson who fatally shot Dodds in the neck at point black range after she grabbed the barrel of his handgun as Johnson and Hall attempted to rob her. In December 2021 Little and Johnson were sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Two of the four D.C. men who were charged with first-degree murder while armed for the July 4, 2016, shooting death of transgender woman Deeniquia “Dee Dee” Dodds on a Northeast Washington street pleaded guilty on Sept. 30 to a charge of voluntary manslaughter as part of a plea bargain deal offered by prosecutors.
A four-page letter providing details of the plea bargain offer made by prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, which was filed in D.C. Superior Court, states that the agreement accepted by defendants Jolonta Little, 30, and Monte T. Johnson, 25, includes the decision to drop the murder charge in exchange for a guilty plea to a single count of voluntary manslaughter.
It says that in exchange for the guilty plea prosecutors will also drop additional charges originally brought against Little and Johnson, including robbery while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
The agreement also includes a promise by prosecutors to ask Superior Court Judge Milton C. Lee, who is presiding over the case, to issue a sentence of eight years in prison for both men.
The letter spelling out the details of the plea deal makes it clear that it will be up to Lee to decide whether to accept the eight-year jail term proposed by prosecutors, and there is no guarantee that Lee will not hand down a sentence with a longer prison term.
It states that under the D.C. criminal code, a conviction on a voluntary manslaughter charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Attorneys and observers of the D.C. courts have said judges usually agree to a recommended sentence by prosecutors in cases involving a plea bargain agreement.
The two other men charged in Dodd’s murder, Shareem Hall, 27, and his brother, Cyheme Hall, 25, accepted a separate plea bargain deal offered by prosecutors shortly before the start of the 2019 trial in which they pled guilty to second-degree murder. Both testified at the trial as government witnesses.
Shareem Hall and Cyheme Hall were subsequently sentenced to 7 years in prison.
TvT project: NBC & Deccan Chronicle 14.07.2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/10/deeniquia-dodds-slaying-case/
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2019/03/06/jury-deadlocked-in-trans-murder-case/
https://splinternews.com/the-murder-of-a-trans-woman-of-color-has-taken-an-overd-1793859085
https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/7/16/dc-woman-becomes-15th-trans-person-murdered-2016
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2016/07/14/transgender-woman-life-support-since-july-4-shooting-dies/
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2016/07/13/july-4-shooting-leaves-trans-woman-life-support/
