SEATTLE — This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com.
Andre Karlow was found guilty Thursday of severely beating a trans woman in the University District last March.
A jury convicted Karlow of second-degree assault and a hate crime for the unprovoked attack on Andy Holcepl.
The trial started last week and concluded Thursday morning with closing statements from King County Prosecutor Yessenia Manzo and defense attorney Maxwell Evans.
Prosecutors told jurors the case is clear: Holcepl was beaten at the hands of the defendant, and he attacked her because she is trans.
“Andy was able to identify him, without question, without hesitancy, with full confidence. She said she was 100% sure that it was Mr. Karlow who had punched her in the face. She said she was 100% sure that it was Mr. Karlow, sitting in this courtroom, who was the main aggressor,” Manzo said.
The defense argued that Holcepl was not attacked at all, but was instead involved in a fight, and that the defendant didn’t know she was trans. Karlow did not take the stand to testify in his own defense, something jurors were told not to hold against him.
“You do not have to find that Ms. Holcepl is lying, just that she’s not credible. She may have misperceived things, misremembered things. That’s reason to doubt her credibility,” Evans said.
But the jury, composed of six men and six women, found Karlow guilty.
Trans woman attacked while walking to meet partner for Mariners game
Just after 6 p.m. last March, Holcepl was walking to meet her partner for the Mariners’ opening day game when she encountered four men. The group had been catcalling young girls, she said, before turning their attention to her and hurling anti-transgender slurs.
The encounter turned violent. Holcepl suffered multiple injuries before escaping and contacting police.
“Andy just wanted to go to the game with her partner, but instead she went to the hospital with her face disfigured, her teeth fractured, and a brain bleed. That is how severely Mr. Karlow beat her. And all because she had the audacity to exist in public as herself,” Manzo said.
Holcepl recounted the attack during her testimony.
“They were holding me down and kicking me and kicking me. I was trying to cover my face, and I was trying to plead with them to stop,” she said. “I know Mr. Karlow was the main one holding me, but I’m not sure who all were kicking me. I just felt the kicks.”
Holcepl described the moment she saw her injuries for the first time.
“I remember when I went to the restroom, and I looked in the mirror to see what happened. I think that’s when the pain started coming,” she said.
Manzo detailed the assault during opening statements.
“Mr. Karlow and his group immediately escalated. They charged at her. They began assaulting her,” Manzo said. “They punched her in the face. They punched her in the teeth. They punched her in the throat. They took her to the ground … and they kicked her repeatedly while she was on the ground.”
Karlow’s attorney countered.
“Andre Karlow is innocent. He did not commit a hate crime, and he did not cause substantial bodily injuries to Ms. Holcepl,” Karlow’s attorney said. “They have to prove that Mr. Karlow assaulted Ms. Holcepl because he thought she was trans. Mr. Karlow didn’t know she was trans.”
Judge bars phone call evidence; Karlow faces separate hate crime case
Prosecutors sought to introduce a recorded phone call in which Karlow expressed hatred for trans people.
“If I didn’t hate trans people before, I do now, absolutely,” Karlow is heard saying in the recording, although it is unclear who he is speaking to. “I think Trump should kill them. Get them out of here. Make them canoe across the Atlantic during hurricane season … I’m pissed. You know I’m pissed.”
However, Judge Jim Rogers ruled the evidence inadmissible, saying it reflected Karlow’s state of mind at the time of the call, not at the time of the crime.
Karlow has also pleaded not guilty in a separate hate crime case in King County. In that case, he allegedly used anti-transgender slurs and attacked a transgender Sound Transit fare enforcement officer in September 2024.
Contributing: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest
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