Colorado & Denver News

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Arguments Begin In Transgender Murder Trial

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share + Comments

Apr 17, 2009 9:40 am US/Mountain

Arguments Begin In Transgender Murder Trial

Opening Statements Under Way In Weld County Courthouse

Reporting
Mike Hooker

GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 2: Allen Andrade in court on Thursday.
CBS
Click to enlarge 2 of 2: Angie Zapata
CBS

Close

numSlides of totalImages

Related Links

Transgender Murder Case Story & Video Archive

Opening statements are under way in the trial of a Thornton man accused of beating a transgender woman to death.

Allen Andrade is accused of killing 18-year-old Angie Zapata last summer after finding out on a date that she was biologically male.

Andrade, 32, of Thornton, is charged with first-degree murder and a bias-motivated crime. Prosecutors say he beat Zapata to death with a fire extinguisher after the two had met through a mobile networking site and they had spent the night at her Greeley apartment.

"This was not a snap decision. The defendant knew for 36 hours that Angie was biologically male," said prosecutor Brandi Nieto in court Thursday.

Defense attorney Brad Martin said "Alan snapped and flew into an uncontrollable rage and started hitting Angie."

Zapata's sister Monica gave an emotional tribute to Zapata at a vigil in Greeley's Lincoln Park Tuesday.

"Angie wasn't different, she wasn't. She was our sister. She was our lovely sister -- our prettiest sister. She was everything to us. And she hurt like you, like me. She cried like us. She cried so much because (she was afraid) ... the world wouldn't accept her," she said.

Gay rights groups are rallying around the murder of Zapata, calling for national hate crime legislation. Colorado added hate crime protection of transgender people four years ago. Zapata's death is the first Colorado crime to be tried under the sexual orientation portion of the state's hate crime law.

Curious & Controversial News

Add Comment

here. here. Need a log in? Register here

Your Name
Your E-Mail * Will not be displayed with comment
Suggest Link * e.g. (http://www.mywebsite.com)
Your Comment

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

Show Comments (0)

Close Window Login

Password:

Forgot Password | Register Here

Close Window Flag Comment

You are flagging the following comment:

Username:
E-mail:
Reason:

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.