VANCOUVER, Wash. — Editor's note: Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed the Nikki Kuhnhausen Act into law on March 5, 2020.
A Vancouver teen who was allegedly strangled to death by a man who had just learned she was transgender is the subject of a bill making its way through the Washington Legislature.
The remains of 17-year-old Nikki Kuhnhausen were found in the Larch Mountain area of east Clark County in December 2019. She had been missing since June.
According to court documents, 25-year-old David Bogdanov strangled Kuhnhausen to death after he learned she was a transgender woman.
Bogdanov pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. His trial is scheduled for July 2020.
A bill in the Washington Legislature would prevent a defendant from using a defense of diminished capacity based on the discovery of the victim’s gender or sexual orientation.
The defense is also called the "gay/trans panic defense," according to the American Bar Association, that calls it “a legal strategy which asks a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity is to blame for the defendant’s violent reaction, including murder."
House Bill 1687 would also block a defendant from using force against another based on the discovery or disclosure, including under circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted romantic or sexual advance towards the defendant.
The bill would be known as the Nikki Kuhnhausen act.
It was approved in the House by a 90-5 vote. It has moved on for consideration in the Senate.