Suspect in 2021 murder of PG County trans woman sentenced to 48 years
Prosecutors in Prince George’s County, Md., announced in a virtual press conference on Jan. 24 that the man charged with the July 17, 2021, murder of transgender woman Taya Ashton, 20, who was found shot to death in her Suitland, Md., apartment, was sentenced on Jan.
10 to 48 years in prison. Assistant PG County State’s Attorney Sherrie Waldrup, the lead prosecutor in the case, said the sentence came after DeAllen Price, 29, pleaded guilty in October to Second-Degree Murder and Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Crime of Violence.
Price has been held since the time of his arrest less than a week after the murder. Waldrup and PG County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy, the county’s lead prosecutor, provided details about the case that had not been publicly disclosed at the time of Price’s arrest two and a half years ago. “What we know in this case is that the victim in this case and the defendant knew each other,” Braveboy said at the press conference. “They had an intimate relationship with one another.
And an argument ensued during one of their meetings in July of 2021,” Braveboy continued. “And from there, unfortunately, their argument led to this tragedy.” Waldrup called the case highly complicated because up until the time of the sentencing the motive for the murder remained unclear, even though many in the community believed it was based on Taya Ashton’s status as a transgender woman. “We didn’t have any definitive evidence to show that until sentencing,” Waldrup said, adding that there were no witnesses to the incident and initial evidence was mostly circumstantial. “And when it came time for the sentencing, the defendant did offer that clarity, if you will, as to why this happened,” she told news conference attendees. “He spoke at sentencing and told the court that he was engaged in an intimate relationship with Taya,” the prosecutor said. “And that evening was when he first learned that Taya was not born a female.
