Joshua Brandon Vallum is a 29 year old man who become lovers with a 17 year old girl, Mercedes Williamson, whom he knew to be transgender in 2015. Vallum was a member of the Latin Kings and Queens Nation gang. Believing himself to be in danger if the other gang members found out Vallum was in a relationship with a transgender woman, Vallum kept it quiet. When he was going to be outed by a gang member, Vallum horrificly murdered Williamson with a stun gun, knife and hammer, simply because she was transgender. Southern Poverty Law Center wrote about this hate crime:
Joshua Brandon Vallum, 29, of Lucedale, Mississippi, was sentenced this week in the Southern District of Mississippi to 49 years in prison for assaulting and murdering Mercedes Williamson because she was a transgender woman.
In entering his guilty plea, the defendant, a member of the Latin Kings and Queens Nation gang, admitted that he had a consensual sexual relationship with Williamson, who was 17, and knew the victim was transgender. Vallum previously pleaded guilty to a state murder charge and was sentenced to life in prison.
During his romantic relationship with Williamson, Vallum kept the sexual nature of the relationship, as well as Williamson’s transgender status, secret from his family, friends and other members of his gang, investigators said.
After Vallum terminated the romantic and sexual relationship, he had no contact with her until May 28, 2015 when he decided to kill Williamson after learning that a friend had discovered Williamson was transgender, the defendant admitted during his guilty plea.
On May 29, 2015, Vallum located Williamson at her residence in Alabama and used false pretenses to lure her into his car so he could drive her to his father’s residence in Lucedale, Mississippi. There, Vallum admitted he used a stun gun to electrically shock the victim before repeatedly stabbing her and striking her with a hammer until she died.
Vallum also falsely claimed to investigators that he killed Williamson in a panic after discovering she was transgender. In pleading guilty, Vallum acknowledged that he had lied about the circumstances surrounding the homicide and that he would not have killed Williamson if she was not transgender.
The trial which concluded last week was a federal trial. Vallum violated the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. After the sentencing the U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement saying that the 49 year sentence, “reflects the importance of holding individuals accountable when they commit violent acts against transgender individuals.”