COLUMBIA, S.C. — Day two of the federal gender-based hate crime trial started at the federal courthouse in Columbia for a transgender woman known as Ladime Doe, who was murdered in 2019 in Allendale County.
Daqua Ritter is one of two charged in connection with this case.
On Wednesday, the prosecution called defendant Daqua Ritter's ex-girlfriend Delasia Green.
Green said she lived in Allendale briefly with Ritter at his uncle's house but moved to Cayce shortly after. She said Ritter regularly visited her in the summer of 2019.
Green said a "gut feeling" something was wrong led her to go through Ritter's phone, where she said she saw messages on a text app about getting a room with someone. She later said she learned it was Doe.
Green testified that discovery later led to a confrontation with Ritter.
Green said Ritter decided to go to Allendale to see his family, and that's when the relationship changed, saying "Ritter" started becoming short with her.
When asked about the timeline, Green couldn't remember how long he went back to Allendale before Doe was murdered but did say the day she was murdered, her sister called her to check Facebook, and that's where she saw posts from Doe's family saying Ritter murdered her.
Green said she called Ritter that evening, and something appeared off. Days later, he showed up at her home, and she asked him whether he'd killed Dime Doe.
Green said Ritter didn't say yes or no. He just smirked and dropped his head. Not long after, he caught a bus to New York, and they broke up shortly.
The Department of Justice called multiple friends of Doe to testify, helping to outline her relationship with Ritter. Multiple people testified that Doe referred to "Ritter as "her man."
The prosecution worked to show Ritter's emotions when being asked about his sexuality, with two witnesses testifying that when Ritter was questioned about his sexuality, he would get visibly mad.
Much of the discussion in the courtroom centered around a fire in a barrel, a witness testified, that he saw the defendant dump items into a barrel to be burned the night of the murder, then said the next day the defendant approached him and showed a gun asking if he would help dispose of it.
In the cross-examination, the defense questioned the testimony, asking why Ritter, who isn't a close friend of theirs, asked them to get rid of a gun. A second witness testified he saw smoke in the same area hours after the murder.
Clay Trippy, special agent with the FBI, opened the federal case of Dime Doe, during his testimony, the prosecution showed Facebook messages shared between Ritter and Xavier Pickney days after the murder.
Agent Trippy said Ritter, at the time of the conversations, was in New York and Pickney was in Allendale, and said these messages showed "he wanted to know if police were onto him".
The court wrapped with testimony from Sadie Allison, a tactical specialist with the FBI who provided messages on the "Text Now" app between Doe and Ritter from early July until early August. In total, 749 text messages were sent, and over 300 were deleted.
The prosecution went over some of the deleted and saved messages. In one text from July 3, Ritter asked Doe to meet up, to which Doe replied she felt scared and afraid he might do something to her.
Court resumes at 9 a.m. Thursday.