The first person to be convicted in federal court of murdering someone because of their gender identity has been sentenced to life in prison by a South Carolina federal judge.
Daqua Ritter, whose troubled life had bounced him between Brooklyn, New York, and Allendale, South Carolina, was found guilty in February of murdering Ernest Daquan “Dime” Doe, a transgender woman with whom he was in a tumultuous, secretive relationship.
On Aug. 4, 2019, Ritter shot and killed Doe, a 24-year-old Allendale native, inside of her car. Prosecutors say that Doe was threatening to expose their relationship, which Ritter feared would ruin his reputation in the insular Allendale community. Ritter pleaded not guilty and throughout his trial denied killing Doe.
In imposing the sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Sherri Lydon weighed the ripple effects of Doe’s murder on her family and puzzled over the deadly futility of the crime.
“This was a senseless murder. Just senseless,” Lydon said. “It was cold, it was calculated, it involved shooting her not one but three times... You could have have just gone back to New York where no one knew about this relationship and protected your reputation as a heterosexual man.”
It was the first time that a person has been convicted by a jury in federal court of committing a murder where the motive was the victim’s real or perceived gender identity.
“Upholding civil rights is a core part of our mission at the Department. of Justice and it continues to be at the forefront of the priorities of our office,” said U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, Adair Ford Buroughs, as she thanked law enforcement for ensuring Dime’s death did not end as a cold case.
Imposing the life sentence for Ritter would show Dime’s life mattered and act as a powerful deterrent in future transgender and LGBTQ hate crime cases, Lydon told the court.
“This sentence is necessary to reflect the seriousness of this case,” Lydon said. “Mr. Ritter, you destroyed the most precious right a person possesses, their right to life.”
But a life sentence could not bring Doe back or even begin to repair the hole the energetic, charismatic, caring young woman had left in her community, Lydon said.
“I’m supposed to be up here talking about Dime, but Dime is supposed to be up here with me,” her mother, Deborah Saab, said through tears as Ritter slid low in his chair. “All I have left of her are memories.”
Ritter’s attorney Joshua Kendrick made a plea for mercy, urging Lydon to consider Ritter’s troubled upbringing and his young age at the time of the murder. If the judge saw any possibility of redemption for Ritter, she should impose a sentence of less than life.
“That’s a big ask, but you wouldn’t be letting him off the hook,” Kendrick said. “Does Mr. Ritter deserve mercy? The answer is no. Because mercy is not deserved, it is given.”
Addressing the court, Ritter, shackled and dressed in an orange Lexington County Detention Center jumpsuit, denied he was homophobic.
Reading from prepared notes and speaking in a low, urgent voice over the sound of his clinking chains, Ritter said that he was “ignored” when he wanted to testify and claimed that the court had been allowed to hear “opinions of others become fact.”
“I’m a son, a brother, an uncle, a grandson. I am forgiving, loving, grateful,” Ritter said, describing the process of starting a nonprofit to mentor at-risk youth. “I am human... I have made mistakes in my life.” But it was as close as he got to apologizing or reversing his not guilty stance.
And Ritter’s humanity was not lost on Lydon, who acknowledged the deprivations and abuse he endured in his childhood.
By his early 20s, when he killed Doe, Ritter had lived a hard and often aimless life, according to Kendrick, court records and letters from his family.
Ritter’s mother, Denise, met his father while living in Allendale in 1996. She already had a daughter and, while pregnant with Ritter, moved up to Brooklyn, New York, to live with her mother and her four foster children.
Ritter’s mother struggled with drugs and alcohol, according to court records. Ritter was born with drugs in his body, according to Lydon. While he was still a baby, his grandmother kicked out Denise after she, while drunk, left a 1-year-old Ritter on the floor, according to court records.
Ritter and his mom spent the next two years bouncing between shelters in New York City, often having to move every ten days. When she was eventually able to get an apartment, her boyfriend moved in and began abusing her, Ritter and his sister. When Ritter was 6, his mother developed a seizure disorder, which got worse when she drank.
As a teen, Ritter struggled in school and often slept in the hallway outside of the apartment if he missed his 9 o’clock curfew. At 15 he met his first girlfriend, Keanna, who already had a daughter and was soon pregnant with his son. After his grandmother kicked him out for getting Keanna pregnant, Ritter dropped out of school and started selling drugs to support them, according to court records.
Keanna later committed suicide, and Ritter’s grandmother took custody of her two children.
Shortly after leaving school, Ritter participated in a program at the Brownsville Community Justice Center, a New York-based non-profit working to reduce crime and incarceration, where he would go on to work as an intern and contractor, according to court records. A co-worker remembered him as a “reliable team player who engaged well with other young men in the program,” according to court records.
But Ritter remained restless. According to court records, around the age of 17, Ritter moved to Allendale for an extended period looking for a fresh start
Throughout his childhood, Ritter traveled to Allendale with his grandmother, where he met extended family and made friends in the small, rural city locals called “the ‘Dale.”
Despite these attempts to integrate himself, Ritter was always an outsider, according to testimony at trial from those he thought were his closest friends in Allendale.
“We don’t know him,” testified one of the young men who Ritter spent his days hanging out and smoking weed with in Allendale, and who, along with Ritter’s other friends, delivered some of the trial’s most damning testimony against him.
But during his time in Allendale, Ritter grew close to Doe. The two bonded over not having a father, and Doe encouraged him to register for classes at Denmark Technical College to pursue his GED.
At some point their relationship turned sexual, but it was always tumultuous. Ritter had another girlfriend who lived in Columbia and he was paranoid that she and people in Allendale might found out about his relationship with Doe.
Text messages showed how Ritter relied on Doe. He asked for rides, wanted to hang out and complained he was sick of being “homeless,” bouncing between Allendale and Columbia.
But Ritter often pulled away and expressed fear and anger over how others perceived his sexuality. He warned Doe not to tell anyone about him and to delete his messages.
On Aug. 4, 2019, Ritter borrowed the phone of his friend Xavier Pinckney and told Doe that he wanted to meet.
She picked him up in her car, and she was found dead later that evening. Pinckney was sentenced to three years in prison for lying to investigators in the case about the phone Ritter used.
The plan spoke to premeditation, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Garner, who prosecuted the case. “It wasn’t for financial gain, it wasn’t in the heat of passion.”
But despite the severity of the crime and the sentence, Lydon said she did not believe Ritter was beyond redemption and urged him to follow through on his plan to start a nonprofit for youth mentoring.
“Even within prison walls there is an opportunity for growth and redemption,” Lydon said. “I urge you to seek out that path.”
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