Man Sentenced To 50 Years For Murdering Black Transgender Teen Brayla Stone
An Arkansas circuit court judge sentenced a man to 50 years behind bars for killing a transgender teen girl in June 2020.
Court documents filed on Thursday (Aug. 12) indicated that Trevone Hayse Miller, 20, pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Brayla Stone of North Little Rock, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Miller was originally charge with capital murder for what prosecutors said was an attempt to hide his sexual relationship with Stone. He will be eligible for parole after serving 35 years.
It was more than a year ago when a passerby discovered the victim’s body on the front passenger floorboard of a vehicle. Investigators said Stone, born Braylen Stone, was shot in the head.
The police arrested Miller about one week later, and he has been behind bars since then.
According to the Advocate.com, prosecutors said Miller and Stone were in an intimate relationship. His motive for the murder was to keep Stone silent after she planned to go public, fearing people would question his own sexual orientation.
Stone was among the 44 trans people killed across the U.S. in 2020, marking a record number of trans killings in the country since activists started tracking these incidents.
