LaTeisha Green
/ file photo
SYRACUSE (AP) -- The family of a slain transgendered woman is joining with national gay rights groups urging New York lawmakers to add transgendered people to the state's nine-year-old hate crime law.
LaTeisha Green's family made their plea as jury selection began Monday in the hate crime-murder trial of Dwight DeLee.
Onondaga County prosecutors say DeLee killed Green because he thought she was gay.
While the New York law includes 10 categories, it does not specifically protect transgendered people.
If the 20-year-old DeLee is convicted of a hate crime murder, it would be just the second hate crime conviction involving the murder of a transgender person in the U.S.
The 22-year-old Green was killed last November outside a house party in Syracuse.
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
