Killer Sentenced in Transgender Murder Case
Antoine Jacobs to serve 16 years for the 2003 shooting of Bella Evangelista
The killer of local transgender performer Bella Evangelista will serve 16 years and eight months for the crime, the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department reported last week.
According to the GLLU report, District of Columbia Superior Court Judge John Bayly on Dec. 16 sentenced Antoine Jacobs to prison time, followed by five-years supervised probation, for second-degree murder. Sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of 10 to 24 years.
Jacobs shot Evangelista in August 2003 at the corner of Alison and 14th streets NW. He killed her after first paying her for oral sex, then later learning she was biologically male, according to case reports.
Two other transgender D.C. residents were attacked in August 2003, one fatally. This month saw the murder of another transgender D.C. resident, Elexuis Nicole Woodland, at the 2000 block of Savannah Terrace SE.
The GLLU report of the sentencing cites an unnamed ”member of the community” as saying the defense claimed ”transgender people are generally violent people, so that is why the defendant brought a gun to confront the victim.”
Anyone with information about the Woodland case is asked to call the police at 202-727-9099.
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