Case of slain transgender teen could go to a jury this week
By Michelle Locke
ASSOCIATED PRESS

HAYWARD – A prosecutor asked jurors to find three men guilty of murder in the death of a transgender teenager, saying they acted coldly and deliberately and were not, as a defense attorney claimed, panicked by the shock of sexual deception.

"Eddie Araujo was a real human being. He laughed and he cried. He had friends and family who loved him," said prosecutor Chris Lamiero as he made his closing argument in the case Tuesday. "In a matter of a few hours ... Eddie was tried and convicted and executed. He was not afforded an opportunity to appeal. He was denied the due process that these still living men now ask of you."

Araujo, who was born male but lived as a woman, was beaten and strangled, prosecutors say, after her biological identity was revealed at a late-night confrontation in October 2002.

Three men are on trial for Araujo's death, which was charged as a hate crime – Michael Magidson, 23, and Jose Merel and Jason Cazares, both 24. A fourth man, 21-year-old Jaron Nabors, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and testified against the others.