Federal authorities join case of slain Burlington teen

The Des Moines Register

A prominent civil rights attorney with the Department of Justice has joined the prosecution in the trial of a man charged with killing a gender-fluid Burlington, Iowa, high school student last year.

Christopher J. Perras of the civil rights division’s criminal section was officially installed in documents filed in Iowa court Friday. He will aid Des Moines County Attorney Amy K. Beavers and Assistant Iowa Attorney General Laura Roan in the case against Jorge “Lumni” Sanders-Galvez, who is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Kedarie Johnson.

Katrina Johnson kisses the urn containing the ashes of her son, Kedarie Johnson, Thursday, March 2, 2017 as family, friends and community members share stories of the 16 year old at a party marking the one-year anniversary of his death at Johnson's home in Burlington, Iowa.

“The federal authorities are investigating the case as a federal hate crime, and so they would like to be part of the state case for seamless prosecution, should an indictment in federal court be handed down,” Beavers said Friday when asked about the decision to add Perras.

Defense attorney Curtis Dial said Friday that Perras won't "have any effect on the way we handle the defense."

More on the death — and life — ofKedarie Johnson:

Federal involvement in the case came to light in late September, when the defense requested the state provide “all of the federal grand jury testimony involving the Defendant and the testing results from the scientific testing from the federal bureau of investigations."

Burlington Police declined to comment Friday on whether any of their officers had been asked to testify at the Grand Jury proceedings, but others close to the case said they knew of people who had testified.

The Register requested comment on the case for the Department of Justice Friday and did not hear back.

Johnson, a well-liked junior at Burlington High whose death rocked his small community, did not identify specifically as transgender, his mother Katrina told the Register. He did enjoy dressing in women’s clothes and sometimes went by Kandicee with friends, but he always used the pronoun “he” and went by Kedarie in most of his daily life.

He had girlfriends, but “preferred boys,” Katrina said.

The New York Times reported Sunday that the move to add Perras was "personally initiated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions."

A conservative, Sessions made headlines this month when he rolled back protections for transgender people in the workplace and asked the Justice Department to take the position that transgender people are not covered discrimination based on "sex."

However, in a speech at the 2017 Hate Crime summit in June, Sessions said he would "continue to enforce hate crime laws aggressively and appropriately where (transgender) individuals are victims."

"Joshua Brandon Vallum was sentenced to 49 years in prison for assaulting and murdering Mercedes Williamson," he said. "This is the first case prosecuted under the Hate Crimes Prevention Act involving the murder of a transgender person.

"I personally met with the Department’s senior leadership and the Civil Rights Division to discuss a spate of murders around the country of transgender individuals," he continued. "I have directed the Civil Rights Division to work with the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to identify ways the Department can support the state and local law enforcement authorities investigating these incidents and to determine whether federal action would be appropriate.

"I specifically directed that the files of these cases be reviewed to ensure that there is no single person or group behind these murders or to what extent hate crime motivation lies behind such murders," he said. "I receive regular updates on the status of that review."

If found guilty of a federal hate crime, Sanders-Galvez could face the death penalty.