A 40-year-old man who attacked two transgender women in separate, unprovoked Seattle assaults since 2024 was sentenced Friday in King County Superior Court to serve seven years in state prison after a jury unanimously found him guilty of committing a hate crime.
King County sheriff’s deputies arrested Seattle resident Andre Karlow in September 2024 after he used an antigay slur while speaking to a transgender Sound Transit fare inspector, stepped away, then returned and punched her at the International District/Chinatown light rail station, court records show.
Karlow pleaded not guilty to a hate crime charge and was released weeks later from King County Jail after posting bond on his $30,000 bail.
Karlow was arrested again in March 2025 by Seattle police after he and a group of men called another transgender woman an antigay slur and a “drag queen,” told her to take off her makeup, then attacked her in the University District, court records show.
Karlow pleaded not guilty to hate crime and second-degree assault charges. He has been held on $200,000 bond in the King County Jail while awaiting trial in both cases.
A jury in November could not reach a unanimous verdict on Karlow’s hate crime charge in the fare inspector attack. Instead, the jury convicted him on a lesser charge of fourth-degree assault, a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail.
In February, a different jury convicted Karlow of committing a hate crime and second-degree assault, both felonies, in the University District attack.
Karlow's attorneys did not immediately respond Friday to inquiries.
King County prosecutors requested in a Wednesday court filing that Karlow serve the maximum 84-month sentence for the second-degree assault conviction, to run concurrently with the standard 60-month sentence for committing a hate crime.
Prosecutors argued Karlow, who has nine prior adult felony convictions in Washington, was a serious safety risk to the transgender community because of his pattern of attacking transgender women without warning and based on their gender expression, court records show.
On Friday, King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Robertson sentenced Karlow to 180 days in jail for assaulting the fare inspector, with credit for time he already spent in jail in that case, according to court records.
King County Superior Court Judge James Rogers then sentenced Karlow to 84 months imprisonment in the University District attack, to be served after completing his prior sentence. Rogers also ordered Karlow not to contact either victim for 10 years, and to spend 18 months in community custody after his release from prison, court records show.
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