A Milpitas man was sentenced to fifteen years to life in jail for fatally stabbing his transgender companion in 2021, in response to a press launch from the Santa Clara County District Legal professional’s Workplace.
Elijah Cruz Segura, 26, was convicted of second diploma homicide late final yr for killing 24-year-old Natalia Smüt at a Milpitas house in April 2021.
Smüt was a Afro-Rican drag queen from San Jose who was broadly beloved within the LGBTQ neighborhood. Mourners at a vigil in 2021 stated she was “captivating” and a “really bright star.”
Segura was sentenced by Santa Clara County Superior Court docket Choose Hanley Chew. That is believed to be the primary prosecution within the domestic-violence killing of a transgender home violence murder in Santa Clara County, in response to the DA’s workplace.
District Legal professional Jeff Rosen stated in an announcement that he hoped Segura’s lengthy sentence would assist carry peace to those that knew Smüt.
“We should never forget that a vulnerable member of our community was abused and killed,” Rosen stated within the assertion. “A sentence, long or short, does not erase that. I urge anyone in an abusive relationship to seek help. You will find resources and respect in our county.”
Smüt was the sixteenth one that died in the USA in 2021 on account of violence towards transgender or gender nonconforming individuals, in response to the Human Rights Marketing campaign.
Public defenders stated in the course of the trial that there was no proof that the homicide was fueled by Smüt’s transgender identification however that it was a home violence incident. Cruz and Smüt had been in a dedicated, live-in relationship, and the courtroom disallowed a hate motive from being thought of from the time of jury choice onward.
Within the early morning hours of April 23, 2021, Segura referred to as 911 and stated that somebody had been minimize on the throat. When police arrived, Segura, coated in blood, led them to a second-floor unit the place they discovered Smüt gravely injured. Smüt later died of her accidents at a neighborhood hospital.
Throughout the trial, the jury permitted a sentencing enhancement for Segura’s use of a knife.
Initially Revealed: January 28, 2025 at 10:15 AM PST
