A man accused of assaulting and threatening to kill a trans woman on Valencia Street on October 31 has been released from custody, despite previously being held on $105,000 bail and facing hate-crime and terrorist-threat charges. 38-year-old Ricky Lamark Hodge has no known address and seems to be homeless, and on the night of Halloween near Valencia and 16th he approached a 43-year-old white transgender woman and said, "Fucking faggot, I don't like you. I'm going to kill you." He then allegedly hit the woman in the forehead, and when she saw him brandish a knife, she sprayed him with a can of mace (you go girl). Hodge fell to the ground, was taken to the hospital, and arrested.
Hodge was then released from jail on November 2, and neither the DA's office nor the Sheriff's Department had any further information -- only that the case was discharged for further investigation. It appears there may not have been enough witnesses to corroborate the victim's story. Police saw that she had redness on her forehead, but she refused medical treatment.
