SYRACUSE, N.Y. – A 20-year-old New York man is scheduled to stand trial in the killing of a transgendered woman.
Dwight DeLee's trial begins Monday in Syracuse, N.Y.
Prosecutors are hoping for a conviction under the state's hate crime law in the November 2008 fatal shooting of 22-year-old Lateisha Green.
The hate crime label could add years of additional prison time to DeLee's sentence if he's convicted.
But hate crime convictions in the state are relatively rare.
Of the 6,151 criminal cases classified as hate crimes in New York between 2000 and 2008, 13 percent ended in convictions.
The conviction rate for all crimes in the state during that period is nearly 65 percent.
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