FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2016 file photo, Joshua Vallum is photographed in the George County Regional Correctional Facility in Lucedale, Miss. A federal judge on Monday, May 15, 2017, sentenced Vallum... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2016 file photo, Joshua Vallum is photographed in the George County Regional Correctional Facility in Lucedale, Miss. A federal judge on Monday, May 15, 2017, sentenced Vallum... (Associated Press) 
 
 GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man received a 49-year prison sentence Monday for the first-ever conviction on federal hate crime charges arising from the killing of a transgender woman. 
 
 In a case watched by the LGBT community nationwide, U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. sentenced Joshua Vallum in the 2015 killing of 17-year-old Mercedes Williamson. It was the first case prosecuted under the federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act involving a victim targeted because of gender identity. 
 
 Prosecutors said Vallum shocked 17-year-old Mercedes Williamson with a stun gun, stabbed her and beat her to death in 2015 to keep fellow Latin Kings gang members from discovering the two were having sex. Gang rules barred homosexual activity and declared it punishable by death. 
 
 Guirola could have sentenced Vallum to life in prison, but heeded a lesser sentence suggested in a plea agreement between defense attorneys and prosecutors, citing Vallum's neglected childhood and other issues. Both the judge and defense lawyers said Vallum's history of abuse as a child had to be considered. 
 
 "The taking of a human life because a person has a particular gender identity is particularly heinous and cannot be tolerated in an enlightened society," Guirola said in court in Gulfport. 
 
 Vallum pleaded guilty to the federal charges in December. He previously pleaded guilty to a state murder charge that led to a separate sentence of life without parole. 
 
 On Monday, Vallum begged forgiveness from Williamson's family and friends, though none of them were present — only a few reporters, the judge and Vallum's father and stepmother. 
 
 "Every day, I live with the guilt and regret of my actions," Vallum said. "If I could bring back Mercedes by giving up my life, I would gladly do so." 
 
 The case, watched nationally amid concerns transgender women are particularly vulnerable to violence, drew comment from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. 
 
 "Today's sentencing reflects the importance of holding individuals accountable when they commit violent acts against transgender individuals," Sessions said in a statement. "The Justice Department will continue its efforts to vindicate the rights of those individuals who are affected by bias motivated crimes." 
 
 LGBT advocates applauded federal officials' first use of the 2009 hate crimes law to prosecute an offense against a transgender person. 
 
 Demoya Gordon, attorney for the Transgender Rights Project of Lambda Legal, called the prosecution "significant" but noted it began under President Barack Obama's administration and added "the cake was already baked" on Vallum's sentencing when Donald Trump became president. 
 
 Gordon said her group remains concerned how Trump policies will affect transgender people. She cited the Trump administration's reversal of guidelines that transgender students nationwide should be able to use school bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity — among other steps. 
 
 "These actions invite increased discrimination and continued animus against transgender people," Gordon said. 
 
 Federal prosecutor Julia Gegenheimer had said at Vallum's plea hearing in December that he began planning to kill Williamson after a friend called him in May 2015 to say he'd discovered Williamson's identity. 
 
 Vallum lured Williamson into a car in Alabama and drove her 50 miles (80 kilometers) to his family home near Lucedale, Mississippi, prosecutors said. They added he shocked her with a stun gun and stabbed her with a pocketknife. When Williamson tried to run, they said, Vallum chased her and bashed her head with a hammer. 
 
 Public defenders submitted a sealed brief Monday to Guirola outlining Vallum's troubles. 
 
 "Mr. Vallum lived through a childhood that was characterized by abandonment and neglect," said public defender Ellen Allred. "It's difficult to image how a mother could lock a two- or three-year-old child in a room for house on end while adults did drugs." 
 
 Allred said Vallum first tried to kill himself when he was 7 or 8. 
 
 "We can't go back and change Mr. Vallum's childhood, just like Mr. Vallum can't go back and undo what he did to Mercedes," Allred said. 
 
 Vallum initially told sheriff's deputies and later told The Sun Herald newspaper that he found out that Williamson had a penis on May 30, 2015 — moments before he killed her. He said he "blacked out" and doesn't remember the crime, a variation of what's known as a "gay panic" or "trans panic" defense. 
 
 He declined to speak with The Associated Press in a March letter, citing advice from his lawyers, and didn't address the issue Monday. However, Vallum has never contested testimony and evidence that he long knew Williamson was transgender. 
 
 A witness in state court had testified previously that Vallum and Williamson had sex multiple times while the witness was a roommate with Williamson. Williamson had transitioned from male to female before dropping out of high school in Alabama, leaving her parents' home and drifting from place to place. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Jeff Amy at: http://twitter.com/jeffamy . Read his work at https://www.apnews.com/search/Jeff_Amy . ||||| Story highlights Joshua Vallum pleaded guilty to killing his ex-girlfriend 
 
 Justice Department: He killed because she was transgender 
 
 (CNN) A Mississippi man was sentenced to 49 years in prison Monday and fined $20,000 for killing his ex-girlfriend because she was transgender, the US Justice Department said. 
 
 Joshua Vallum, 29, of Lucedale is the first person prosecuted for a federal hate crime in which the victim was targeted for being transgender, the Justice Department said in a news release. 
 
 Vallum knew Mercedes Williamson was a transgender teenage girl when they began dating, but kept her gender identity secret, prosecutors said. 
 
 They broke up in 2014 but Vallum decided to kill her in May 2015 because a friend had discovered she was transgender, the Justice Department said. 
 
 Merecedes Williamson 
 
 Vallum, a member of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation crime gang, feared reprisals from gang members if they found out about the relationship, the Justice Department said. 
 
 Read More ||||| CLOSE Family, friends and community members returned to the site where 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson was found murdered in Burlington, Iowa, to mark the one-year anniversary of his death. 
 
 Buy Photo Katrina Johnson kisses the urn containing the ashes of her son, Kedarie Johnson, Thursday, March 2, 2017, as family, friends and community members share stories of the 16 year old at a party marking the one-year anniversary of his death at Johnson's home in Burlington, Iowa. (Photo: Michael Zamora/The Register)Buy Photo 
 
 A prominent civil rights attorney with the Department of Justice has joined the prosecution in the trial of a man charged with killing a gender-fluid Burlington, Iowa, high school student last year. 
 
 Christopher J. Perras of the civil rights division’s criminal section was officially installed in documents filed in Iowa court Friday. He will aid Des Moines County Attorney Amy K. Beavers and Assistant Iowa Attorney General Laura Roan in the case against Jorge “Lumni” Sanders-Galvez, who is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Kedarie Johnson. 
 
 “The federal authorities are investigating the case as a federal hate crime, and so they would like to be part of the state case for seamless prosecution, should an indictment in federal court be handed down,” Beavers said Friday when asked about the decision to add Perras. 
 
 Defense attorney Curtis Dial said Friday that Perras won't "have any effect on the way we handle the defense." 
 
 More on the death — and life — of Kedarie Johnson: 
 
 Federal involvement in the case came to light in late September, when the defense requested the state provide “all of the federal grand jury testimony involving the Defendant and the testing results from the scientific testing from the federal bureau of investigations." 
 
 Burlington Police declined to comment Friday on whether any of their officers had been asked to testify at the Grand Jury proceedings, but others close to the case said they knew of people who had testified. 
 
 The Register requested comment on the case for the Department of Justice Friday and did not hear back. 
 
 Johnson, a well-liked junior at Burlington High whose death rocked his small community, did not identify specifically as transgender, his mother Katrina told the Register. He did enjoy dressing in women’s clothes and sometimes went by Kandicee with friends, but he always used the pronoun “he” and went by Kedarie in most of his daily life. 
 
 He had girlfriends, but “preferred boys,” Katrina said. 
 
 The New York Times reported Sunday that the move to add Perras was "personally initiated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions." 
 
 A conservative, Sessions made headlines this month when he rolled back protections for transgender people in the workplace and asked the Justice Department to take the position that transgender people are not covered discrimination based on "sex." 
 
 However, in a speech at the 2017 Hate Crime summit in June, Sessions said he would "continue to enforce hate crime laws aggressively and appropriately where (transgender) individuals are victims." 
 
 "Joshua Brandon Vallum was sentenced to 49 years in prison for assaulting and murdering Mercedes Williamson," he said. "This is the first case prosecuted under the Hate Crimes Prevention Act involving the murder of a transgender person. 
 
 "I personally met with the Department’s senior leadership and the Civil Rights Division to discuss a spate of murders around the country of transgender individuals," he continued. "I have directed the Civil Rights Division to work with the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to identify ways the Department can support the state and local law enforcement authorities investigating these incidents and to determine whether federal action would be appropriate. 
 
 "I specifically directed that the files of these cases be reviewed to ensure that there is no single person or group behind these murders or to what extent hate crime motivation lies behind such murders," he said. "I receive regular updates on the status of that review." 
 
 If found guilty of a federal hate crime, Sanders-Galvez could face the death penalty. 
 
 CLOSE Community members in Burlington show their support as Katrina Johnson asks why her son,16-year-old Kedarie Johnson, was killed. Michael Zamora/The Register 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://dmreg.co/2wXWgEt
– A Mississippi man received a 49-year prison sentence Monday for the first-ever conviction on federal hate crime charges arising from the killing of a transgender woman, the AP reports. In a case watched by the LGBT community nationwide, US District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. sentenced Joshua Vallum, 29, in the 2015 killing of 17-year-old Mercedes Williamson. It was the first case prosecuted under the federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act involving a victim targeted because of gender identity. Prosecutors said Vallum shocked Williamson with a stun gun, stabbed her, and beat her to death to keep fellow Latin Kings gang members from discovering the two were having sex. Gang rules barred homosexual activity and declared it punishable by death. The couple had broken up in 2014 but a friend had recently discovered Williamson was transgender, per CNN. Guirola could have sentenced Vallum to life in prison, but heeded a lesser sentence suggested in a plea agreement between defense attorneys and prosecutors, citing Vallum's neglected childhood and other issues. Both the judge and defense lawyers said Vallum's history of abuse as a child had to be considered. Vallum pleaded guilty to the federal charges in December. He previously pleaded guilty to a state murder charge that led to a separate sentence of life without parole. On Monday, Vallum begged forgiveness from Williamson's family and friends, though none of them were present—only a few reporters, the judge, and Vallum's father and stepmother. "Every day, I live with the guilt and regret of my actions," Vallum said. "If I could bring back Mercedes by giving up my life, I would gladly do so."