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Charged as a Man, Convicted as a Woman: Curious Criminal Case in Miami

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Photo Credit: Miami Herald Nearly a decade ago, Harold Seymore was charged with sexually assaulting a female tourist on South Beach. Last week, Seymore was finally convicted of the crime — but as a woman.

Seymore’s story is a complicated one, an unusually long grind through both the criminal justice and mental health systems, all while struggling with gender identification issues. Born intersex, with functioning male and female reproductive organs, she has slowly transitioned to a woman.

For the first time in her life, Seymore donned a dress last week as she sat in a Miami-Dade courtroom to face jurors.

Her change in appearance from the 2005 arrest never took center stage but surfaced in subtle ways over four days of trial. Witnesses described a tall lanky man behind the assault. But defense attorneys, despite occasional slip-ups, made sure to call Seymore “she” while prosecutors used a neutral “the defendant” . . .

It took jurors just an hour to convict Seymore. On Friday, Pooler sentenced her to 15 years in prison, plus 10 years of probation. Because of her long criminal history, Seymore was designated a habitual violent offender. (Read more about the criminal case in Miami HERE)

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Obama’s Secret Service Agent Arrested, in Drunken Stupor on Miami Sidewalk (+video)

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U.S. Secret Service agent Aaron Francis Engler was found early Friday morning passed out on the sidewalk near the intersection of Brickell Avenue and 7th just hours after President Barack Obama had left South Florida.

According to the arrest report, Miami police officers were in the area around 7 a.m. on an unrelated call when they noticed Engler passed out. According to the arrest report, when the officers checked on the man, he had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and a strong odor of alcohol. Police said Engler started throwing his arms around while he and started to fight with officers, the report said.

The officers then took Engler to the ground and handcuffed him. As an officer searched Engler’s pockets, he discovered Engler’s Secret Service identification.

The officer didn’t make the find without a fight. During the search, sources said Engler threw his arms around and hit the officer in the chin.

Law enforcement sources told CBS4 Engler told police he was an agent out of Washington and was part of the advance team for the president’s visit on Thursday.

Miami threatens to evict congregation over Pastor’s sermons calling homosexuality sin (+video)

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A Miami pastor is fighting back after the head of the Miami-Dade school district threatened to evict his church, which rents space on Sunday in one of the district’s schools, because of the pastor’s public stand against homosexuality.

After President Obama came out publicly in support of same-sex marriage, Pastor Jack Hakimian of Impact Miami, a Southern Baptist congregation that rents space on Sundays in North Miami High School, began to preach sermons pointing out that, according to the Bible, homosexual behavior is a sin.

According to Baptist Press News, the school district’s superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, responded to the sermons with a statement that Hakimian’s take on homosexuality “appears to be contrary to school board policy as well as the basic principles of humanity.” Carvalho told ABC television news affiliate local10.com that he had asked “for immediate legal review to seek the termination” of the church’s lease contract with the school district. “I am making this decision not on the basis of policy or politics, but as a rejection of prejudice and intolerance,” claimed Carvalho.

A spokesman for the district followed up Carvalho’s comments, saying that the school board and superintendent had reviewed the “allegations” against the pastor and found his words “disturbing and appalling.”

Hakimian immediately responded to Carvalho’s threats by calling a press conference and demanding an apology from the superintendent and a promise that the district would stop its harassment. “I never thought I’d be penalized for teaching on Christian marriage and sexual ethics from the Bible, the very Bible that presidents swear on, in a privately rented space at an event not sponsored by the school or district,” the Miami Herald quoted Hakimian as saying. “We ask Mr. Carvalho to retract his intolerant statements, apologize, and commit to never again to bully or discriminate against those he disagrees with.”

Here’s the video of Pastor Hakimian’s press conference responding to Miami-Dade school district’s eviction threat:

Read more from this story HERE.