Transgender Woman Drowns, Man Who Pushed Her Will Not Face Trial

A Texas judge ruled that the drowning death of a transgender woman in 2017 was not a criminal offense, the San Antonio Express-News reported. Mark Daniel Lewis, 20, admitted to police that he pushed Kenne McFadden into the San Antonio River, where she was eventually found dead, but Judge Joey Contreras decided Lewis will not go to trial for it.

Lewis was indicted by a grand jury in November on a manslaughter charge for the incident. In April 2017, Lewis admitted to pushing McFadden into the river after the two shared a consensual kiss. He claimed McFadden then grabbed his lower back area, which caused him to push the woman away. McFadden, who was intoxicated and could not swim, then drowned.

Lewis was on probation because he failed to register as a sex offender and the prosecution wanted to use McFadden’s death to revoke it, according to the Express-News. Unlike a criminal trial, probation can be revoked based on “a preponderance of evidence” rather than absolute proof. Still, Contreras felt nothing about the incident violated Lewis’ probation terms.

Due to the double jeopardy rule, Lewis cannot be tried for the death of McFadden after this ruling. After being arrested for something separate, Lewis appeared in a videotaped police interview where, despite misgendering McFadden, he said he did not intend to push her into the river.

In the wake of the ruling, local LGBT activists planned a march in protest of Lewis going off scot-free for McFadden’s death, the San Antonio Current reported. The Facebook event page for the march cited high murder rates for transgender women of color and blamed the ruling on poor legal representation on behalf of McFadden.

“When this happens in our city we expect to see justice served,” the page said. “We demand justice for Kenne! We refuse to go away and will show up to make our voices heard!”

Transgender people in the U.S. have been killed at a high rate, according to a Los Angeles Times report in November. The Human Rights Campaign released statistics indicating more than 100 transgender people were killed in the previous five years, with a large majority of the victims being women of color.