Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a Justice Department lawyer to Iowa to help prosecute a man charged with the murder of a transgender teenager.
The unusual move was first reported by the New York Times on Sunday and later confirmed by the Associated Press and the Des Moines Register.
“This is just one example of the attorney general’s commitment to enforcing the laws enacted by Congress and to protecting the civil rights of all individuals,” DOJ spokesman Devin O’Malley told the New York Times.
It’s rare for the Justice Department to send a prosecutor to help with a local case, and Sessions’ decision shows he’s willing to fight violence against LGBT individuals even though he has rolled back protections for LGBT individuals as attorney general.
“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, a prosecutor in the case, told the Des Moines Register of the Justice Department’s decision.
Christopher Perras, who works in the DOJ’s civil rights division’s criminal section, will help Beavers and another local prosecutor in the case against Jorge “Lumni” Sanders-Galvez, who has been accused of killing Kedarie Johnson.
Johnson did not identify as transgender and always used the pronoun “he,” his mother told the Des Moines Register. However, Johnson liked dressing in women’s clothing and sometimes went by the name Kandicee, his mom said.
Sessions “personally initiated” the move, according to the New York Times. He was prompted by a letter from six members of Congress asking him to look into the case, the Times said.
