The victims were two gay men and a transgender woman.
He faces 17 counts of possessing and distributing child pornography.
“I think we understand these stories on a certain level because they reflect stories from within our own community.”
The teen survived with help from neighbors and is now living on his own.
Meanwhile, anti-trans hate crimes shot up 40 percent in 2018.
Giovanni Melton’s mother says that her son was killed after coming out to his father.
The two men were fully cleared of charges but a vigilante group spurred the attack.
