Man who killed transgender Native American woman in 2022 takes manslaughter plea • South Dakota Searchlight

The man who shot a transgender Native American woman to death in 2022 pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter this week in Pennington County. 

Pennington County State’s Attorney Lara Roetzel filed first-degree manslaughter, drug and firearms charges against 54-year-old Gregory Edward Landers in February, about a year and a half after he killed 30-year-old Acey Morrison in his Rapid City trailer.

The case caught national attention in LGBTQ+ circles in part because of the extended wait between the time Landers called 911 to report the killing and the date on which he was indicted by a grand jury in Rapid City. Morrison was honored in 2022 during the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, which takes place each November in memory of transgender people who lost their lives to violence in the preceding year.

Landers pleaded guilty to the second-degree manslaughter charge on Monday in Rapid City, two days before this year’s day of remembrance. 

Second-degree manslaughter involves the reckless killing of another human being. The maximum penalty is 10 years in the state penitentiary.

A letter from Roetzel in the Landers case file says she intends to ask for a 10-year sentence with three years suspended at his Dec. 19 sentencing. His other charges were dismissed as part of the deal.

“This case is a tragic reminder of the consequences of reckless and violent actions,” Roetzel said in a statement to South Dakota Searchlight. “By accepting responsibility through his guilty plea, Mr. Landers is being held accountable for the harm he caused. We remain committed to seeking justice for victims like Acey Morrison and ensuring our community remains safe.”

Court documents offer insight into self-defense arguments

Landers told law enforcement he’d shot Morrison in self-defense when he called 911 to report the killing. He maintained that he’d acted in self-defense throughout court proceedings this year. 

Most of the documents, exhibits, photos and transcripts associated with his effort to have the manslaughter charge dismissed under South Dakota’s “Stand Your Ground” law are sealed. 

The documents that remain public do offer some new details on the situation. Landers claimed he’d let Morrison stay the night after the two connected on a dating app, but that she wouldn’t leave when he asked. He said she’d broken his ribs in an altercation over the shotgun that killed her. 

Court documents say he was treated for bruised ribs and a broken hand after the homicide. The lead investigator characterized the break to Landers’ hand as a “boxer’s fracture,” an injury typically associated with punching someone or something.

‘Stand your ground’ law alters criminal justice landscape

Landers argued throughout the proceedings that he’d wrestled a shotgun away from Morrison before shooting her in the chest, and had moved to hire an expert to re-check for DNA on the weapon. In a letter to Judge Heidi Linngren, Landers called himself an innocent man and wrote that he should not be convicted because of “incompetent” DNA testing.

That testing found Morrison’s DNA on the weapon, including near the barrel of the gun, but it had more of Landers’ DNA on it. Her left index finger was blown off in the shooting, according to a motion from Roetzel asking Judge Linngren to deny Landers’ request for immunity from prosecution. That’s consistent with her hands being “at the top of the barrel of the muzzle at the time of discharge.”

Roetzel’s arguments noted that Landers had accused Morrison of performing a factory reset of his phone, presumably to steal and sell it, but later admitted he’d wiped the phone’s memory to conceal information from law enforcement. Landers also said he and Morrison hadn’t had sex, despite DNA evidence to the contrary, and that the physical fight between them took place in a bedroom and a closet that were undisturbed when officers arrived.

“Defendant says he acted in self-defense, but his words have little meaning, given the number of lies he has been caught telling,” Roetzel wrote.

Lead detective resigns

Morrison’s mother, Edelyn Catches of Oglala, grew frustrated with the justice system as she awaited an answer about her daughter’s death. 

Just over a year after Morrison’s death, Catches lost her son Daniel Freeman to homicide in an incident that took place on the Pine Ridge Reservation and has yet to draw criminal charges.

Nine months and counting: Slain transgender woman’s family frustrated by wait for justice

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecutes felony crimes on tribal lands. U.S. Attorney spokeswoman Ace Crawford was not immediately able to offer any information on the Freeman case Thursday afternoon.

The charges for Landers were a relief for Catches, but she said the self-defense arguments and an issue with the lead investigator in the case, Cameron Ducheneaux, had her anxious about the outcome. 

Ducheneaux resigned from the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office for reasons that aren’t disclosed in the public court file. His resignation is noted in the file, but documents and personnel records that could shed further light on the resignation were only made available to the prosecution, defense and judge.

On Thursday, Catches said she’d been told that Ducheneaux’s situation could have called his credibility into question at Landers’ trial. The trial was initially set to begin this week.

The plea deal means Ducheneaux will not be called to testify at a trial, nor would his credibility be called into question by Landers’ attorney.

“Looking at what we were facing, he actually had a chance of walking,” Catches said Thursday.

Tony Mangan, spokesman for the state Division of Criminal Investigation, said Ducheneaux remains a certified law enforcement officer, and that a hearing on his certification will take place during a meeting of the Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training Commission meeting on Dec. 4. 

The process of working through the self-defense arguments, seeing images of Morrison after the killing and hearing accusations leveled at Morrison throughout was stressful, Catches said.

“It was just way out of Acey’s character, the way he described the altercation,” Catches said.

She’s glad Roetzel pursued the case, despite the wait, and that Landers has now admitted to recklessly killing Morrison.

“It was an uphill fight the whole way,” Catches said. “At least he’ll get something, and it will be on the record that he killed Acey.”