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12-06-2004, 04:45 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/v-pfriendly/story/259150p-221796c.html
New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
It's hit or Miss
in slaying trial
By NANCIE L. KATZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, December 5th, 2004
Call him madam!
That was the ruling of a Brooklyn judge who has granted the request of a transvestite defendant who wants to be addressed as "Miss" when he goes on trial for murder this week.
The case against Fernando Batista will also offer a rare peek at the borough's underworld of transgender and transvestite prostitution.
Batista, 24, an admitted cross-dressing, male hooker, is accused of strangling his transsexual pimp.
The victim, Paola Matos, was a striking 31-year-old blond who friends say was still known by her given name Jose when she was crowned Miss Gay Puerto Rico in 1995.
Matos was found dead in the bedroom of her apartment on 96th St. in middle-class Bay Ridge at 2:30 a.m. on July 22, 2003, after cops responded to a 911 call of an unconscious woman.
Friends said she had only recently completed a long series of sex change operations.
Prosecutors contend that Batista killed Matos - capping a fight over money he made turning tricks inside her apartment. She claimed Batista owed her $4,000.
According to court records, Batista admitted he was in Matos' apartment when she was slain, but he denied killing her.
Still, he fled to Puerto Rico within 24 hours of the murder. He was arrested nine months later.
Last week, Batista's lawyer, Ken Perry, asserted again that his client was not the murderer.
"He did not kill her," said Perry, who declined to comment further.
After his arrest, Batista, told police that Matos had called him and two other "girls" to her apartment that night.
Matos' friends described her as vivacious and energetic, a person who was fond of shopping and dancing and loved to advise friends about hair, makeup and jewelry, helping them "all be beautiful."
In court, the gender crisscrossing at first befuddled lawyers and state Supreme Court Justice Anne Feldman, who stumbled over how to address the defendant and those scheduled to take the stand this week.
At prosecutor Robert Lamb's suggestion, all agreed to call everyone whatever each wanted.
"The witnesses tend to be either men acting as women, transvestites or actually women," said one courtroom source. "There is some talk about them being transgender as well. This is a real doozy."
As for Batista, who has long, red-streaked hair tumbling down his back, he made a convincing case that he should be addressed as a she.
New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com
It's hit or Miss
in slaying trial
By NANCIE L. KATZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, December 5th, 2004
Call him madam!
That was the ruling of a Brooklyn judge who has granted the request of a transvestite defendant who wants to be addressed as "Miss" when he goes on trial for murder this week.
The case against Fernando Batista will also offer a rare peek at the borough's underworld of transgender and transvestite prostitution.
Batista, 24, an admitted cross-dressing, male hooker, is accused of strangling his transsexual pimp.
The victim, Paola Matos, was a striking 31-year-old blond who friends say was still known by her given name Jose when she was crowned Miss Gay Puerto Rico in 1995.
Matos was found dead in the bedroom of her apartment on 96th St. in middle-class Bay Ridge at 2:30 a.m. on July 22, 2003, after cops responded to a 911 call of an unconscious woman.
Friends said she had only recently completed a long series of sex change operations.
Prosecutors contend that Batista killed Matos - capping a fight over money he made turning tricks inside her apartment. She claimed Batista owed her $4,000.
According to court records, Batista admitted he was in Matos' apartment when she was slain, but he denied killing her.
Still, he fled to Puerto Rico within 24 hours of the murder. He was arrested nine months later.
Last week, Batista's lawyer, Ken Perry, asserted again that his client was not the murderer.
"He did not kill her," said Perry, who declined to comment further.
After his arrest, Batista, told police that Matos had called him and two other "girls" to her apartment that night.
Matos' friends described her as vivacious and energetic, a person who was fond of shopping and dancing and loved to advise friends about hair, makeup and jewelry, helping them "all be beautiful."
In court, the gender crisscrossing at first befuddled lawyers and state Supreme Court Justice Anne Feldman, who stumbled over how to address the defendant and those scheduled to take the stand this week.
At prosecutor Robert Lamb's suggestion, all agreed to call everyone whatever each wanted.
"The witnesses tend to be either men acting as women, transvestites or actually women," said one courtroom source. "There is some talk about them being transgender as well. This is a real doozy."
As for Batista, who has long, red-streaked hair tumbling down his back, he made a convincing case that he should be addressed as a she.