First appearance on Fox: Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita ruled against a federal judge who authorized gender reassignment surgery after an inmate accused of killing his 11-month-old stepchild filed a lawsuit against the state correctional facility. The decision is being appealed.
“We are clear that we disagree with the judge's decision in this case, and we are currently filing a formal appeal,” Rokita told FOX News Digital. “Prisoners like the convicted infanticide in this case have no constitutional right to undergo sex reassignment surgery, much less have taxpayers pay for it.”
“We continue to fulfill our obligation to uphold Indiana's common sense laws,” he said.
Indiana judge rules prisons must require transgender surgery for inmate who killed infant
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has identified Jonathan C. C., also known as Autumn Cordelione, a transgender inmate who was convicted of strangling her 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2001. They are suing the Indiana Department of Corrections on behalf of Richardson. (Indiana Department of Corrections/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital first learned that Rokita filed a notice of intent to appeal Wednesday morning.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the Indiana Department of Corrections He made the decision last year on behalf of Jonathan C. Richardson, a transgender inmate also known as Autumn Cordelione, who was convicted of strangling his 11-month-old stepdaughter to death in 2001.
However, Indiana law prohibits the Department of Corrections from using taxpayer dollars to fund gender reassignment surgeries for inmates. However, the ACLU argues that: lawsuitfiled on August 28, 2023, argued that the law violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishment.”
ACLU sues Indiana over refusal of gender reassignment surgery for inmate who strangled 11-month-old infant to death
The judge granted the inmate's request for sex reassignment surgery. (St. Petersburg)
The ACLU's lawsuit says the surgery for Cordelione, who is serving a 55-year sentence for reckless homicide, was “medically necessary.”
Judge Richard Young agreed with the ACLU's argument and ruled in Cordelione's favor last month.
“Specifically, Ms. Cordelione believes that her gender dysphoria is a serious medical need and that despite other treatments provided to her by the defendants to treat her gender dysphoria, she has suffered from physical and mental “The decision shows that gender reassignment surgery is necessary to prevent the risk of serious harm.''
In a separate case last year, Cordelione filed a civil lawsuit against a prison chaplain for banning her from wearing a hijab outside her bedroom. identify as a muslim woman.
Trans prisoner who killed baby and identified herself as a Muslim woman sues pastor for not allowing her to wear hijab
April 4, 2018, Todd Rokita. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
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According to court documentsOn September 12, 2001, Cordelione strangled his then-wife's 11-month-old daughter to death while she was at work.
Court documents from the Indiana Court of Appeals show that during an initial interview with one of the detectives, Cordelione appeared calm and “unemotional” as she described what happened. .
