Ego. Anger. And an illegal gun.
That's the root of it, according to the Essex County assistant prosecutor.
Alrashim Chambers is on trial for the 2010 murder of 28 year-old transwoman model Victoria Carmen White. He is also charged with bias intimidation and weapons offenses.
But for Carmen White’s status as a transgender individual, I would submit to you she would be alive today.
--Assistant Prosecutor Eileen O’Connor
It was a night of partying at an Irvington nightclub that turned violent way too quickly. Carmen was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds in her cousin's apartment on September 12, 2010.
Born male, Carmen had undergone sexual reassignment surgery after high school and legally changed her name.
O'Connor said the killing was "gross overreaction" by Chambers when he realized that Carmen "wasn't a woman [CRINGE!!!--ed.], or at some point had been a man."
Chambers' alleged accomplice, Marquise Foster, was also charged with the murder, but has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for his testimony. Chambers accuses Foster of the murder, noting that Foster is historically the bigger criminal.
He is an experienced crook. He knows the buttons to push, when to reach out to the prosecutor’s office, how to tell a story.
--Chamber's lawyer
It doesn't take much experience...only watching a couple of television shows...to know that the first one who talks gets the deal.
Natasha Wray and White's cousin, Sharon White, testified on Tuesday. Both women were in the apartment on the night of the murder. They said that Chambers and Carmen were kissing and hugging, so the women went into the bathroom to give them some privacy. They said that Foster was on the phone at the time.
At one point, they looked out the door and saw White leaning against Chambers, with her shirt askew.
I yelled to my cousin, was she good. She said she was ok.
--Sharon White
Then everything went all pear-shaped.
White and Wray claim they heard a man yell, "You a dude?" Three gun shots followed shortly thereafter. Wray and Sharon White said they couldn't identify which of the men yelled the words, which they say sounded like "a question, with anger".
In Foster's statement to police, he claimed that both men had sexual encounters with Carmen White while the other women were in the bathroom, but that only Chambers suspected she was transgender.
Foster is expected to testify later in the week.
White, whose birthday would have been Monday, has been described by relatives as someone whose outlook on life brightened a decade ago when she underwent sexual reassignment surgery, then changed her name.
Her aunt, Monica White, said the killing faded from the headlines too soon but for the family has remained a constant point of pain.
"We miss her and it’s been very hard for everybody," she said.
Shortly after Carmen White was murdered, Tyler Clementi committed suicide.
