Man held for trial in death of transgender woman
Raheam Felton is accused of the fatal stabbing of London Kiki Chanel.
A 31-YEAR-OLD man will face trial in the brutal stabbing last month of a transgender woman, London Kiki Chanel.
Raheam Felton was held for trial on charges of murder and possession of an instrument of crime by Municipal Judge Patrick Dugan after a preliminary hearing.
The victim, 21 - who also spelled her first name Londyn, according to her Facebook page - had been living for about a week in an abandoned house on Ingersoll Street near 22nd in North Philly with Felton; his transgender girlfriend, Miaya Bankz; and another transgender woman known as "Star."
Bankz testified that the stabbing happened on the third floor of the house. She said that Chanel came upstairs and told her that Felton had sexually touched her.
Felton then "just pulled out a knife" and repeatedly plunged it into Chanel, stabbing her six times - four times in the back, once in the neck and once in the chest, Assistant District Attorney Guy D'Andrea said after the hearing.
"London never fought back," he said.
After the stabbing, Bankz and Felton went outside and found someone to call 9-1-1 because they didn't have a phone. Bankz said that she and Felton then went back upstairs and that Felton helped her carry Chanel down the stairs to make it easier for an expected ambulance crew.
Rescue crews arrived at 12:49 a.m. on May 18, and found Chanel bleeding on the sidewalk, police have said. She was taken by ambulance to Hahnemann University Hospital and pronounced dead shortly afterward.
D'Andrea said that when cops asked who had stabbed Chanel, Felton contended that he and Bankz found Chanel already stabbed when they returned to the house. But Bankz told cops that Felton stabbed Chanel, and the cops found a knife on him, the prosecutor said.
Defense attorney Charles Mirarchi III said after the hearing that Felton stabbed Chanel, but contended there was no specific intent to kill.
He contended that Felton could have been high on drugs at the time or acting in self-defense.
D'Andrea said he thought the self-defense theory was "crazy" and said he didn't believe that drugs were a factor.