365Gay.com – by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
(West Palm Beach, Florida) A teenager who severely beat a transsexual last year is not guilty of a hate crime a Palm Beach County Juvenile Court judge has ruled.
Judge Peter Blanc ruled that the teen, who cannot be named because he was a minor at the time of the crime, is guilty of aggravated battery, but tossed out the hate crime charge.
At the time of his arrest the teen told police that he and a friend had gone out to pick up some girls and met the 39-year old victim outside a local bar.
The teen said that the victim performed oral sex on him in the friend’s car and then agreed to go to the beach with him. The teen told police that as they were “making out” on the beach he felt a male organ.