NYC Man Gets 12 Years in Prison for Death of Transgender Woman

Islan Nettles died after being attacked by a group of men in Harlem in 2013

A man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2013 death of a transgender woman will spend 12 years in prison.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. says James Dixon was sentenced Tuesday in the death of 21-year-old Islan Nettles. Prosecutors had recommended a 17-year sentence.

The victim was one of three transgender women who encountered a group of about seven young men on a Harlem street on Aug. 17, 2013.

Dixon flirted with Nettles before realizing she was transgender. Then he punched her in the face; she fell and her head hit the pavement.

He hit her some more before running away. She died five days later

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