A 16-year-old boy who sometimes wore skirts and makeup to school was killed in Iowa. Then the Justice Department sent a federal hate-crimes lawyer to aid in the prosecution. The trial has become part of the national debate over gender identity. Guests: Monica Davey, The New York Times’s Chicago bureau chief; Matt Apuzzo, who covers law enforcement; Shaunda Campbell, a former counselor at Burlington High School; Tremell Jones, a friend who was with Kedarie Johnson the night he was killed. Sabrina Tavernise is our host; Michael Barbaro will return tomorrow. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.