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Some groups approved of the government’s commitment to protect individuals against discrimination based on gender identity. The charges against Vallum and the sentence imposed drew mixed reactions from various civil rights groups across the country. Vallum was sentenced to 49 years in prison and a $20,000 fine in the Southern District of Mississippi. Vallum allegedly believed that his own life was in danger because other gang members knew about his sexual relationship with a transgender individual. Prosecutors believe that, despite already knowing Williamson’s gender identity, Vallum murdered Williamson due to fear of retribution from other members of his gang, the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation. The government alleged that Vallum persuaded Williamson to enter his car at her home in Alabama, drove her to Mississippi, assaulted, and ultimately stabbed her. On May 28, 2015, Vallum allegedly murdered Williamson after his friend discovered that Williamson identified as transgender.

Prosecutors in the case alleged that Vallum knew that Williamson identified as a transgender female during the course of their relationship. Although previously in a relationship, Vallum and Williamson broke up in 2014. Here, the government alleged that Vallum murdered Williamson based on her actual or perceived gender identity. Because Congress passed section (a)(2) of the Act under its Commerce Clause power, the government must establish that the alleged hate crime occurred in or affected interstate or foreign commerce. Section (a)(2) of the statute criminalizes behavior in which an individual commits or attempts to commit violent acts against another when motivated by certain characteristics of the victim (i.e., actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability). Therefore, the government brought federal charges against Vallum under a federal hate crime statute: the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. However, the state of Mississippi, where the crime took place, does not have a statute protecting individuals from hate crimes based on their gender identity.

Typically, prosecutions for hate crimes are handled by individual states, as opposed to the federal government. In his plea, he stated that, despite earlier statements to the police indicating his unawareness of Williamson’s gender identity, he ultimately killed Williamson because she identified as transgender. Vallum pled guilty to Williamson’s murder on December 21, 2015. On Monday, May 15, 2017, Joshua Vallum became the first individual to be prosecuted and sentenced for a federal hate crime after the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Mercedes Williamson.