By Parker Marie Molloy
The Advocate
ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Minnesota trans woman CeCe McDonald, imprisoned for second-degree manslaughter in what some activists believe was a case of self-defense, will be released January 13, just 19 months into her 41-month sentence.
The Minnesota Department of Corrections recently updated its website to reflect the January 13 release date for McDonald. In May of 2012, McDonald reached an agreement with prosecutors wherein she would plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the stabbing death of Dean Schmitz on the night of June 5, 2011. A month later, she was sentenced to 41 months in prison.
The facts of the case remain murky, but according to testimony, McDonald, who is African-American, and four of her friends were walking to a grocery store in Minneapolis during the early morning hours of June 5, 2011, when they were confronted by a group of white people, one of whom was Schmitz, outside the Schooner Tavern. Schmitz’s group began shouting racist and transphobic slurs at McDonald’s party, with events eventually escalating to a physical altercation that left McDonald injured and Schmitz dead of a stab wound to the chest.
Full story: CeCe McDonald to Be Released From Prison