The teen says that the woman got into their car, and performed oral sex on him
in the back seat while his friend drove. They ended up near a lifeguard tower
on the island of Palm Beach after midnight. According to the 17-year-old, the
woman was on top of him when he saw something he didn't expect under her bikini
bottom.
Just as they were about to have sex, he says, he saw the woman was actually a
pre-operative transsexual. She already had breast implants, but her other
surgery is not scheduled until later this year.
She denies any sexual activity with the teen and has a different story.
Transsexual Beaten
But a witness saw what happened next: The teen shouted for help, dragged her
through the sand, beat her head against the lifeguard stand and punched out her
front teeth.
The teen goes on trial this week in juvenile court, facing a first-degree
felony hate-crime charge that may be without precedent in Palm Beach County.
Assistant State Attorney Renelda Mack, chief of the civil rights unit, said she
does not remember another hate-crime case here with a transsexual victim.
The teen, now 18 and attending summer school, has been under house arrest since
the beating in the early morning of July 29, 2006. A juvenile judge will decide
if he is guilty and what punishment, if any, he will face.
The teen's attorney, John Brewer, will argue self-defense. Brewer said the
39-year-old threatened to kill him and his family if he told anyone what
happened.
A mechanic from Lake Worth was on the beach that night with friends. He said in
a deposition that he was sitting on top of the lifeguard tower when the teen,
wearing only boxer shorts, came up and asked for help.
The kid, who looked no older than 18, ''was hysterical, freaking out, crying,
upset,'' the witness said.
``He said he picked up a girl, he thought it was a girl -- it was a guy.''
The man had tried to rape him, the teen told the mechanic.
Told to go Home
The witness said he suggested that the boy go home and not tell anyone. But
about half an hour later, the kid returned, he said, dragging what looked to be
a topless man down the beach by the hand. He screamed that he was going to kill
him and slammed the person's head against the lifeguard stand, the witness
said.
The witness jumped off the tower and headed for the boardwalk. The kid came
back again, he said, saying he thought he had killed someone and was going to
jail. Palm Beach police arrived then, the witness said.
They found the victim covered in blood.
The teen's father says he is appalled by what happened and can't believe that
the state has not filed charges against the 39-year-old for sex with a minor.
Florida law makes it a second-degree felony for a person 24 or older to engage
in any sexual activity with a 16- or 17-year-old.
''I want to know how a 39-year-old man, disguised as a woman, was out there
picking up a 17-year-old,'' the father said.
But the transsexual, now 40, gives a different version of events.
Had been Drinking
She said in her deposition that she had several drinks over the course of the
evening and agreed to go to a party with the two young men because she needed
to sober up before driving home. She figured they were in their early 20s.
The teen came onto her aggressively, kissing her, touching her breasts and
putting her face in his lap. She said she told him that she was a transsexual
and denies that there was any sexual activity.
The only witness to what happened before the beating, the 17-year-old's friend,
was in his own juvenile trouble and violated a court order by going out that
night, Brewer said.
The friend has his own lawyer, Brewer said, and isn't talking.
Florida law says that a crime is ''aggravated by prejudice'' when a perpetrator
intentionally selects a victim because of a characteristic like race, religion
or ethnicity.
The Palm Beach Post
