Rihanna Kelver was standing outside the Crowbar & Grill in Laramie, Wyoming, when a man began to shout homophobic and transphobic slurs at h
Mathew Rodriguez at Them:
A trans woman in Wyoming is facing two felony charges — aggravated assault and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent — after pulling out a gun on someone who had pushed her to the ground, per journalist Jeff Victor of The Laramie Reporter. Rihanna Kelver was standing outside the Crowbar & Grill in Laramie, Wyoming, when a man — whom local state news publication Cowboy State Daily identified as Scott Durham — began to shout homophobic and transphobic slurs at her. Durham later shoved Kelver to the ground with such force that she injured her tailbone, per court testimony and surveillance footage detailed in the affidavit reviewed by The Laramie Reporter, which initially reported the altercation. In response, Kelver drew a pistol from her bag, put in a round and pointed the weapon at Durham, which caused him to flee. Kelver, per The Laramie Reporter, kept the safety on and never fired. Despite Wyoming’s “Stand Your Ground” statute, which allows people to use reasonable force in moments of self defense, Kelver faces up to 15 years in prison for both charges, as well as up to $11,000 in fines, per Cowboy State Daily. Kelver faces an additional year and $1,000 fine for a charge of interference with a peace officer. Per the statute, “A person who uses reasonable defensive force … shall not be criminally prosecuted for that use of reasonable defensive force.”
According to video evidence detailed in court documents reviewed by The Laramie Reporter and Slate, Kelver was “alone, outnumbered, physically assaulted and left on the ground facing multiple aggressors,” as Durham was not alone during the incident. Despite the overwhelming evidence that Kelver acted in self defense, a judge at a pretrial hearing agreed with the charges against Kelver, forcing her to go to trial. [...] As pointed out by Slate, self-defense laws are often put into question when people from marginalized communities, especially trans people, use them, including Cece McDonald, a Black trans woman who served time in a men’s prison for defending her friends during a racist and transphobic attack. Ky Peterson, a Black trans man from Georgia, was also arrested and imprisoned for killing his rapist in self-defense.
Another reason why “Stand Your Ground” laws don’t work, especially for marginalized communities: Trans woman Rihanna Kelver faces assault charges for self-defense after Scott Durham shoved her down after issuing a barrage of transphobic and homophobic slurs aimed at Kelver outside of Crowbar & Grill in Laramie, WY.
Does anyone know of any way to support Rihanna? Either from afar or locally? This is like in my back yard, and I'd like to do something about this.
