Men Who Pled Guilty to Attack on Trans Woman Get Probation
Keaten Morris and Kevin York previously agreed to a plea deal for their role in beating up a trans woman at a Minneapolis light rail station.
Two men who beat and robbed a transgender woman during an attack at a Minneapolis light rail station will avoid jail time and serve only probation under a sentence handed down by a Minnesota judge this week.
Keaten James Morris 19, and Kevin Dewayne York, 23, both of St. Paul, previously pleaded guilty in May to third-degree felony assault for attacking a transgender woman at the Blue Line’s Lake Street Station as part of two separate plea deals. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop more serious charges of first-degree aggravated robbery against both men.
According to charging documents, Metro Transit police officers were dispatched on the morning of February 27 to the light rail station in response to reports of an assault. En route to the scene, officers were provided with images of three suspects seen assaulting the victim, who suffered a serious head injury with cranial bleeding, fractured ribs, and a collapsed lung after being punched repeatedly in the head and at one point pushed down the stairs.
Police then searched the area and located two suspects matching the images and description of the assailants, arresting Morris and York. Following his arrest, court documents noted that Morris was on a Metro Transit “trespass list” related to a previous offense at the time of the attack, meaning he should not have been at the station, reports the Minneapolis-based newspaper the Star Tribune.
The third suspect was never identified nor apprehended.
Officers who responded to the scene initially expressed concerns that the attack may have been motivated by anti-transgender bias. Standalone hate crime charges do not exist in Minnesota, but defendants can face bias enhancements if a crime was believed to have been committed due to animus against a particular group and the victim’s membership (or perceived membership) in that group based on their personal characteristics.
But prosecutors from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office found reason to believe that York and Morris were not motivated by anti-transgender bias when they attempted to rob and beat the victim. Even though York had the women’s purse, with her ID inside, in his possession, police provided no evidence to prove that he forcibly took it from her, as the victim, at the time of the attack, could barely speak in sentences or testify what had happened to her, due to her head injuries.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Morris to 365 days in the workhouse for having violated conditions of his plea deal by failing to contact his parole officer. But he has credit for already having served a year, reports the Pioneer Press.
Cahill also noted that results of a pre-sentence investigation indicating that Morris may suffer from chemical dependency and underlying mental health issues, and ordered that Morris be furloughed to chemical health treatment, as recommended by an assessment of his chemical dependency issues while in custody.
If Morris successfully completes the drug treatment program and three years of probation, the felony conviction will be reduced to a misdemeanor.
A defense attorney for York argued that the crime was not a hate crime but that his client also had “chemical dependency problems.”
Cahill commended York’s progress in an in-custody drug treatment thus far, sentencing him to 99 days in the workhouse, with credit for already having served 99 days. He must also attend anger management therapy, counseling, and sober support groups. If he completes his probation, his felony conviction will also be reduced to a misdemeanor.
“It sounds like you’ve already started all the things you’re supposed to [in order] to address issues of chemical health so this doesn’t happen again,” Cahill said. “Keep up the good work. We don’t want you to be back here.”
“I don’t want to be back here,” York replied.
As a condition of their probation, both Morris and York are instructed to stay away from all light-rail stations and trains for a year, and are instructed not to have contact with each other or the victim. If they violate their sentence, the felony charge will remain on their records and they could be sent back to the workhouse to serve additional time.
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