Allen Andrade

Allen Andrade is a 32-year-old Colorado man who authorities say beat transgendered woman, Angie Zapata, to death on July 16, 2008.ABC News: Transgender Murder Trial Set to Begin Today (April 14, 2009)

Andrade was found guilty of of Zapata's murder on April 22, 2009. Andrade's likely sentence will be life in prison without the possibility of parole.Examiner.com: Allen Ray Andrade found guilty of the murder of Angie Zapata

While in police custody, Andrade confessed to police detectives that he had met 18-year-old Angie Zapata on the social networking site MocoSpace. Angie Zapata was born Justin Zapata but lived as a woman. They met in person on July 15, 2008, and Zapata performed oral sex on Andrade but refused to let him touch her sexually.ABC News: Transgender Murder Trial Set to Begin Today (April 14, 2009) Colorado Independent: Jury selection starts Tuesday in trial of man charged with Zapata slaying (April 14, 2009)

The next day, Zapata left Andrade alone in her apartment, and he discovered photos that made him believe that Zapata was a male. He asked her whether she was a male and grabbed at her, discovering a penis. He then beat her with his fists and then with a fire extinguisher.ABC News: Transgender Murder Trial Set to Begin Today (April 14, 2009)

Angie Zapata was discovered in her apartment by her sister on July 17, 2008, with blunt force trauma on her head.ABC News: Transgender Murder Trial Set to Begin Today (April 14, 2009)

Andrade later confessed to police that he had "killed it" after striking her in the head repeatedly until she stopped breathing.The New York Times: Murder Trial Tests Colorado Hate-Crime Statute (April 16, 2009)

The trial has become a rallying point for nonprofit organizations who want Congress to pass the Matthew Shepard Act. The act, named after a University of Wyoming student who was beaten to death in 1998 because he was homosexual, would add gender, sexual orientation and gender identity to the Federal hate crime laws.Colorado Independent: Talk Left blasts federal hate-crimes bill, warns against 'punishing thought' (April 13, 2009)

His trial for murder began in Greeley, Colorado, on April 14, 2009. The crime will be prosecuted as a hate crime under state law, the first time for such a prosecution of an anti-transgender murder case.ABC News: Transgender Murder Trial Set to Begin Today (April 14, 2009)