Judge rules beating transsexual not a hate crime

A teenager who severely beat a transsexual last year is not guilty of a hate crime a Palm Beach County Juvenile Court judge has ruled. Judge Peter Blanc ruled that the teen, who cannot be named because he was a minor at the time of the crime, is guilty of aggravated battery, but tossed out the hate crime charge. At the time of his arrest the teen told police that he and a friend had gone out to pick up some girls and met the 39-year old victim outside a local bar. The teen said that the victim performed oral sex on him in the friend's car and then agreed to go to the beach with him. The teen told police that as they were "making out" on the beach he felt a male organ. He then began to beat the victim, whose name also has been withheld. After realizing he had left his cell phone in the car he walked to the vehicle, retrieved it returned to the victim and began hitting her with it. A witness told the court that the teen forced the victim to her knees while he pummeled her face. He then slammed her head against the side of a lifeguard stand. A police officer who questioned the teen testified that he seemed arrogant and said he had beat the woman until his hand was sore. The teen's attorney said that his client acted out of self defense, claiming the victim had threatened to kill him and his family if he ruined her reputation by disclosing she was transsexual. Judge Blanc discarded the self defense argument saying that when the teen first walked away from the victim he did not have to return and continue the beating. But he said that although the teen was guilty of assault, it did not rise to a hate crime. The victim has denied having any sexual activity with the teen.