Man sentenced to 48 years in prison for Dallas murder of Muhlaysia Booker

A man charged in the 2019 fatal shooting of a transgender Dallas woman about a month after she was beaten in a separate attack that was caught on video was sentenced Monday to 48 years in prison.

Kendrell Lyles, 37, pleaded guilty to murder as jury selection was set to begin in his trial in the death of Muhlaysia Booker, 22, who was found fatally shot in Dallas a month after suffering a group assault following a minor traffic accident.

Lyles is charged with two other murder counts in the May 2019 shootings of Leticia Grant, 35, and Kenneth Cichocki, 29. Authorities have not revealed a motive for their killings.

Lyles’ sentencing comes amid a rise in reported assaults against the LGBTQ community. At least 25 transgender and gender non-conforming people have been killed so far in 2023, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Of them, 88% were people of color, and 52% were Black transgender women.

What happened to Booker?

On the morning of May 18, 2019, Booker was found dead from a gunshot wound, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY. 

An investigation determined Booker was picked up at around 3:25 a.m. by an "unknown person" driving a car that matched the description of one Lyles drove, according to documents filed in court. A witness said Lyles frequented the area Booker was picked up from to meet with transgender prostitutes.

Authorities also found Lyles’ and Booker’s phones were in the same location around and after the time she was killed. Her body was discovered a few miles from where she had been picked up.

Lyles’ attorney, Richard Franklin, said after his client entered the guilty plea that it “was the right result.” Franklin said he did not know the motive for the slaying.

“No amount of time can bring Muhlaysia back, and although we wish the sentence was capital punishment, our family can finally have some sense of closure knowing that justice was served and he can’t cause any more families hurt and pain," Stephanie Houston, Booker’s mother, said.

Booker fatally shot one month after viral group assault

About a month before Booker was fatally shot, video footage showed several men attacking her following a minor car accident on April 12, 2019. 

According to police, the other driver involved in the accident had a gun and refused to let Booker leave until she paid for damage to his vehicle. A crowd gathered and someone offered a man $200 to beat Booker. Other men also struck her, and one stomped on her head. 

Video of the attack was shared on social media. It showed Booker being beaten as the crowd hollered and watched. Edward Thomas, 29, was arrested and jailed on an aggravated assault charge.

Booker was hospitalized with injuries and told police the people who attacked her used homophobic slurs. 

Police have not revealed a motive for her killing but said it was unrelated to the April assault.

Data on violence against trans, gender-nonconforming people 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's latest "Crime in the Nation" report shows of all hate crimes, "11,288 single-bias incidents involved 13,278 victims." More than half of the crimes were based on race or ethnicity, 17.2% were based on sexual orientation and 4% were based on gender identity.

The Human Rights Council estimated the data showed a 13.8% increase in reports based on sexual orientation and a 32.9% rise in reported hate crimes based on gender identity compared to 2021.

Since 2013, the Human Rights Campaign has tracked 334 cases of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people across the U.S. Of them, 75% have been transgender women of color, and about 62% have been Black transgender women. HRC said nearly 10% of the killings happened in Texas, more than any other state.

Contributing: Kayla Jimenez, USA TODAY; Associated Press