Sara Kielly is a trans woman and survivor of gender-based violence. From a young age, Sara experienced sexual abuse and severe bullying throughout school because of her sexuality and gender identity. She also experienced developmental issues from a head injury, due to an incident of self harm, at a young age. She joined the army as an adult, where she experienced more sexual trauma.
Sara was in a relationship with someone who knew about her childhood, took advantage of her vulnerability, and was verbally, physically, emotionally, and sexually abusive. The abuse led Sara to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. One night, after they had been drinking, her partner tried to force her to have sex. She pushed him off and broke up with him, at which point he became more violent, threatening her and choking her with both hands. Sara blacked out. While she does not remember what happened after, the autopsy and evidence reported she hit him with a rock on the side of his head which resulted in his death.
Sara was arrested and pressured into pleading guilty, and is now serving a 25 years to life sentence at Bedford Hills. In that time Sara has worked very hard to get an education, heal from the trauma she has experienced, and overcome her mental health and addiction struggles.
After prison, Sara plans to finish her BA in Politics and Human Rights then go to law school. Once she obtains her JD, she wants to represent and work with the LGBTQ community and on prisoners rights issues. Most of all, Sara looks forward to being able to spend time with her family. She especially hopes to be able to see her niece and nephew, whom she loves as if they were own children, grow up.
At this point, Sara’s only hope lies in clemency. She submitted her clemency application and it has been sitting on the governor’s desk since February 2021.