Hadley Robinson

George Gascon, right, announces his opposition to a judge's ruling that a transgender attack in the Mission District was not a hate crime. Ass't District Attorney Victor Hwang, right, is the prosecutor in the case.

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced Thursday he will re-file felony hate crime charges against two suspects in an assault case against a transgender woman. A judge dismissed those charges Wednesday.

Gascon's office had charged Lionel Jackson and Maurice Perry with three felonies--assault with force, second degree robbery, and a hate crime--in connection an attack on a transgender woman on April 15. Superior Court Judge Bruce Chan ruled the men could be tried on the felony assault and robbery charges, but not on the felony hate crime charge.

According to Gascon's office, Chan believed the attackers' primary motivation was financial and dismissed the hate crime allegation. But Gascon said he would challenge Chan's ruling.

“The robbery may have occurred regardless," he said. “We believe this assault would not have happened if it had not been a transgender woman."

Gascon, who is running for election in November, assured reporters his decision to fight the court ruling is practical, not political.

“If we say we’re going to treat everybody equally and then we have incidents where people are being targeted for their status, I believe we’re being disingenuous,” he said.

Gascon was the city's police chief until January, when former Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed him District Attorney.

According to prosecutor Victor Hwang, the suspects approached the victim in the 16th Street BART plaza and yelled, "What's going, Mama?" Then, Hwang said, they grabbed her phone. When she tried to get her phone back, Jackson and Perry allegedly responded with homophobic comments, then struck her several times until she fell to the ground. Witnesses heard them say, “I hate men who dress like women,” as they walked away, Hwang said.

“The defendants certainly had an awareness of the victim’s sexual orientation,” Hwang said. “There are comments indicating they were aware of her transgender status.”

Hwang added that transphobic and homophobic comments from the two men continued while they were in police custody.

The DA’s office did not name the victim, but Mia Tu Mutch identified herself to the news outlets in April, and her Tumblr page offers a brief description of her experience.

 “I am a survivor of many crimes...The police initially thought it was just a robbery (they did steal my phone). But two men also beat me after making hateful comments based on my gender identity. I just knew it was over, I thought the crowd was going to kill me…and then I was sexually assaulted by a third man.” 

Hwang mentioned the sexual assault incident but said it’s still under investigation. Gascon said the incident “involving very bad behavior” is “very disturbing.”

There is surveillance tape of the incidents, though the footage will not be released publicly.

Several representatives from the transgender community spoke Thursday against Judge Chan’s ruling, supporting Gascon’s actions.

Matt Wood, staff attorney with the Transgender Law Center said transgender individuals often don’t report crimes out of fear of being ignored or victimized, and this ruling doesn’t help.

 “This was so disappointing in the sense that the judge didn’t go forth with charging this issue with a hate crime, where there is quite a bit of evidence,” he said.

Clair Farley, a transgender woman with the San Francsico LGBT Center, also stood by Gascon.

“The victim came to San Francisco because it’s a community that values everyone,” Farley said. “I’ve been in the same situation in which violence has been ignored. We need to work together to make sure justice happens here.”