October 16, 2017
OAN Newsroom
The DOJ is sending a federal hate crimes lawyer to Iowa to help prosecute a man charged with murdering a transgender high school student.
An attorney in Des Moines County filed first-degree murder charges against two men in January after they allegedly shot and killed 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson in 2016.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions personally made the decision to send the federal prosecutor.
The move is in line with a speech made by Sessions back in June, promising to enforce federal hate crime laws.
The Justice Department rarely assigns its lawyers to serve as local prosecutors, but Sessions and the DOJ believe this is a special circumstance in which the government can provide its expertise.
(Facebook/Kedarie Johnson)
