GREELEY — Jurors who heard four days of testimony in a first-degree-murder trial of a man accused of killing a transgender woman will begin deliberating the case today in Weld County District Court.
Defense lawyers for 32-year-old Allen Andrade of Thornton rested their case late Tuesday afternoon after calling five witnesses. The last was J.J. Alejandro, who was a former roommate of the victim — 18-year- old Angie Zapata.
Zapata was biologically male. But Alejandro told jurors Zapata had no male clothing and the apartment they shared smelled like a woman’s home.
“He carried himself as a female, walked like a female, talked like a female,” Alejandro said.
The defense claims Andrade killed Zapata in a rage, after learning she was born male. Prosecutors say Andrade planned Zapata’s death because he hated transgender individuals.
Jurors on Tuesday heard Andrade tell his girlfriend in a jailhouse conversation that “gay things need to die.” Andrade declined to testify in his own defense.
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
