The case of a transgender murderer in Utah took another startling twist as convicted killer Mia Bailey told a judge he has converted to Islam behind bars and deserves the death penalty after he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
The 30-year-old transgender man legally changed his name and sex in 2023, about a year before murdering his elderly parents Joseph and Gail Bailey, according to St. George News.
Convicted of the double murder in June of last year, Bailey had asked the judge not to appear at his Friday sentencing, saying that reliving the details of his crimes might result in a mental breakdown, according to numerous news reports.
The request denied, Bailey’s attorney Ryan Stout read a statement on his behalf, where the convicted killer revealed he had converted to Islam.
“Because of my religious beliefs as a Muslim, it would be appropriate to take my life for atonement for what I did,” his statement said.
(…) Brother Dustin Bailey also spoke during the sentencing, alleging his brother’s psychiatric providers committed malpractice during his transition.
“We support LGBTQ rights fully. This has nothing to do with identity,” Dustin Bailey told the Court. ”Providing powerful hormones to a person in a psychiatric crisis without proper psychiatric safeguards is not affirming care. It is reckless. In this case, it acted as an accelerant, intensifying instability, impairing judgment, and compounding risk.”
“That failure harmed Mia and it endangered our parents,” he said.