DENVER — Prosecutors can still pursue hate crime charges against the person accused of killing five people inside a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub despite the suspect identifying as nonbinary, legal experts said.
Defense attorneys wrote in court documents Tuesday that the suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, identifies as nonbinary. Though prosecutors have yet to file formal charges, Aldrich is being held on suspicion of murder and bias-motivated crimes in connection with the Saturday night shooting at Club Q, considered a hub of the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs.
A person can be charged with a federal or state hate or bias-motivated crime even if they belong to the same community they are accused of targeting, several attorneys and experts told The Denver Post. The key factor, they said, is whether prosecutors have evidence to indicate there was bias toward that group, not necessarily to what group the suspect claims membership.
