Kendrell Lyles, aged 37, has been sentenced to 48 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to the 2019 murder of Muhlaysia Booker, a 22-year-old transgender woman. The case gained national attention in early 2019 when a horrifying video circulated online, showing Booker being brutally attacked on the streets of a Dallas neighborhood.
The video depicted Booker being beaten by a man and later assaulted by others, including kicks and holding her down. Following the attack, she was hospitalized for facial fractures, with her arm in a sling. This incident highlighted the violence faced by Black transgender women and the vulnerability of the transgender community.
Tragically, about a month after the attack, Booker was found dead from a gunshot wound on May 18, 2019. Her family believed that she was targeted due to her transgender identity. A witness reported seeing Booker entering a car the night before her death in an area frequented by sex workers. The description of the car matched that of Kendrell Lyles, and their phones indicated that they were at the same location at the time of the murder. Booker’s body was discovered a few miles away from where she entered Lyles’ car.
Kendrell Lyles pleaded guilty to the murder just as jury selection was set to begin for his trial. He also faces charges related to the murders of Leticia Grant and Kenneth Cichocki, both of whom were killed in May 2019, the same month as Booker’s murder.
Muhlaysia Booker’s mother, Stephanie Houston, expressed her relief at the sentencing, stating that while no amount of time could bring her daughter back, the family could finally have some sense of closure. Lyles’ motive for the killing remains unknown.
The attack on Muhlaysia Booker in the video and her subsequent murder underscore the ongoing violence and discrimination faced by transgender individuals, particularly transgender women of color. The case serves as a reminder of the urgent need for greater awareness and advocacy to protect and support the transgender community.
Edward Thomas, the man who beat Booker in the video a month before her death, was cleared of felony assault and convicted of misdemeanor assault during his trial. The trial featured misgendering and deadnaming of Booker, along with efforts to portray the altercation as “mutual combat” between two men, despite it being a violent assault on a transgender woman.
Speaking at a rally after the beating, Booker had shared her resilience, stating, “This time, I can stand before you, whereas in other scenarios, we are at a memorial.”