2 Charged With Crime Against Transgender Woman To Face Trial
NEW YORK (AP) -- Two New York City men facing trial in Queens are accused of assaulting a transgender woman as they yelled anti-gay slurs.
Nathaniel Mims and Rasheed Thomas are each charged with assault as a hate crime. Their trial is scheduled for today.
Prosecutors say the men assaulted the transgender woman in July 2009. If convicted, they each face up to 15 years in prison.
Attorneys for the men didn't immediately return after-hours messages.
The trial comes amid a rash of reported anti-gay attacks in Manhattan this month.
Prosecutors said two men attacked a man in the bathroom at the Stonewall Inn after he told them it was a gay bar.
And a group of men told prosecutors they were attacked by another group of men, at least one of whom yelled anti-gay slurs.
