In Washington, D.C., the House Judiciary Committee marked up the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, readying it for a floor vote.

The much-needed measure would give the Justice Department jurisdiction over crimes in which the perpetrator has selected the victim because of the person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

And in Greeley, Colo., a jury returned a guilty verdict against the man accused in the beating death of Angie Zapata, an 18-year-old transgender woman.

Allen Andrade is guilty of first-degree murder.

Allen Andrade is guilty of committing a bias-motivated crime.

Allen Andrade will be in prison when representatives take to the floor to debate the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, but lawmakers should know of his deeds before any vote.

They should know that Allen Andrade beat Angie Zapata with a fire extinguisher and then left her lying on the ground.

And they should know that when Angie Zapata awoke from the first beating, Allen Andrade beat her again.

Lawmakers should know Allen Andrade’s words: “Gay things need to die.”

And they should know the words the judge directed at Andrade after the jury returned the guilty verdict: “I hope, Mr. Andrade, as you’re spending the remaining part of your natural life in the Colorado Department of Corrections … that you every day think about the violence and brutality that you caused on this fellow human being and the pain you have caused not only on your family but the family of Angie Zapata.”

Lawmakers should know the words that Angie Zapata’s mother spoke at the trial’s conclusion: “It hurts so bad.”

And lawmakers should know the words that Gonzalo Zapata delivered last week, the day Allen Andrade was convicted of killing his sister: “Only a monster can look at a beautiful 18-year-old and beat her to death. This monster not only hit my sister, but continued to beat her head in over and over and over until her head was crushed in. He left her there to die.”

Critics of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act might point to the verdict against Allen Andrade as proof that hate crimes reform is not needed at the federal level.

Some states prosecute hate crimes, but the federal legislation would help fill gaps — providing Justice Department assistance if a state does not have jurisdiction or does not intend to exercise jurisdiction; if a state has requested that the Justice Department assume jurisdiction and if a state has completed prosecution and the Justice Department wants to initiate a subsequent prosecution.

Lawmakers should note, as they hear from the bill’s critics, that Allen Andrade is the first person to be convicted for killing a transgender woman under a hate crime law.

The prosecutors in the case were bold and the exception — Allen Andrade was only the second person in the nation to be tried for killing a transgender person under a hate crime statute.

The trial in Greeley and the guilty verdict draw our attention to the violence perpetrated against GLBT people and the need for action at the federal level.

Colorado sought justice for Angie Zapata, but not every state has a similar hate crimes measure. Five states — Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming — have no hate crimes laws. Fourteen states – Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah (no categories listed), Virginia and West Virginia — have hate crimes laws that do not address sexual orientation or gender identity. And 31 states have hate crimes laws that do not address bias crimes based on gender identity.

Allen Andrade was found guilty as charged, but in too many states Allen Andrade would not have been charged with a bias-motivated crime.

In other cases in other places, anti-GLBT crimes have gone unprosecuted and will go unprosecuted without federal action. And justice will not be sought for the victims of those who believe that “gay things need to die.”

Allen Andrade, 32, of Thornton, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being convicted of killing Angie Zapata, 18. The jury deliberated for just two hours before finding Andrade guilty.

In handing down the sentence, District Judge Marcelo Kopcow said he hoped Andrade thinks “about the violence and the brutality … and the pain you caused not only your family, but the family of Angie Zapata.”

The case was believed to be the first prosecution under Colorado’s bias-crime statute for a crime involving a transgender person. Gay rights activists hope publicity from the case would pressure Congress to add sexual orientation and gender identity to a federal hate crime law.

Prosecutors had argued Andrade knew for hours that Zapata was biologically male and beat her to death because he disliked gays. They said Andrade had attended a court hearing with Zapata where court officials used her legal name, Justin.

A witness at that hearing also testified that when Zapata spoke, she sounded like a man trying to disguise his voice.

Andrade’s attorney didn’t deny that he killed Zapata, but said he had just learned Zapata’s identity after spending hours with her and he lashed out without thinking. Defense attorney Annette Kundelius said Andrade and Zapata agreed to meet for sex after Zapata deceptively described herself as a straight female.

“This is not something that people plan for,” she told jurors. “This isn’t a situation where people know how they would act.”

During the trial, prosecutors played recorded jail conversations where Andrade referred to Zapata as “it” and said it wasn’t as if he “killed a straight, law-abiding citizen.”

“His own statements in the jail call betray the way he values Angie’s life, the way he thought of her as less than, less than us because of who she was,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Robb Miller told jurors.

“Everyone deserves equal protection under the law and no one deserves to die like this,” Miller said.

Kundelius said Andrade’s statements were jokes made by a man who knew he was innocent.

“Was it in poor taste, was it a smart thing to say?” Kundelius asked jurors. “No. But it doesn’t mean he committed murder.”

Maria Zapata, the victim’s mother, called the murder “a selfish act” by Andrade.

“But there is something that he can never take away is the love and the memories my family and I have of my baby, my beautiful, beautiful baby,” she told the court before the sentencing.

Andrade’s sister, Christina Cruz, said her family was “not supporting the outcome, but we do support him as my brother.”