thanks for posting this. and i especially appreciate that you noted that "true justice" cannot be done because angie can't be brought back and the violence can't be taken away.

the case has been very intense for the tblg community here in CO. lots of folks keep saying, "yay! justice!" (understandably thankful that a. it's over with a decent result, b. her murderer was punished to the fullest extent, and c. we had a landmark case). we seem to forget that "justice" will only be truly felt when we can be ourselves without fear of negative consequences of any sort. this was a step in the right direction under EXTREMELY unfortunate circumstances. i'm so proud of the jury!

thanks again, jessica.

Thank goodness this sicko is going to be in jail for the rest of his life. I would have completely lost faith in the justice system had his "trans panic" excuse exonerated him of so brutally killing a young woman like Ms. Zapata. It's just so sad that it's taken so much violence - in this case and countless others - for crimes against transgendered individuals to finally break into the mainstream media and be dealt with harshly in a court.

My only worry is that the reason the "trans panic" defense didn't work was because the prosecution managed to show he'd known she was trans beforehand, etc. etc., not because the defense in and of itself is outrageous and vile. But regardless of why, at least that foul excuse for a human being didn't get away with it.

And agreed - "justice" would have been if Angie had never been killed in the first place. This is the closest we can get after such a cruel and unjust crime.