LGBTQ activist disagrees with murder sentence for transgender woman’s murder

Activists from the Coast’s transgender community say the sentencing for the brutal murder of 25-year-old Dee Whigham is far from enough.
Former Navy sailor Dwanya Hickerson was sentenced to 40 years for second degree murder and 15 years for robbery in Jackson County Court yesterday.
Hickerson pled guilty to stabbing Whigham 190 times, the transgender victim’s body was found in a St. Martin hotel room on July 23rd, 2016.
A local activist says Hickerson deserves to serve life in prison and tells News 25 she thinks Whigham’s lifestyle played a part in the judge’s decision. Molly Kester with the Mississippi Rainbow Center said, “When you take another human’s life you should suffer the punishment that you took another human’s life and that’s the way it should be judged when sentences are handed down. There shouldn’t be anything dealing with gender or race or any of that should go into the decision factor. That’s a human being and their life was taken early.”
Whigham worked as a nurse in Hattiesburg at the time of her death. News 25 reached out to the Jackson County judge regarding the sentencing, but he was unavailable for comment.