The arraignment for a 30-year-old Inglewood man accused of killing a transgender woman in South Los Angeles has been postponed until March 23. 

James Spells, suspect arrested in connection with the murder of Deshawnda Sanchez. (Photo by South L.A. Intersections)

Robert James Spells, who is being held without bail, made his first appearance in a downtown courtroom Monday. He did not enter a plea.

READ MORE: Arrest in South LA shooting of transgender woman

Spells was charged with one count of capital murder with a special circumstance of killing someone during a robbery as well as six other felonies, including second-degree robbery, offering a child to men for sex and two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Deshawnda “Ta-Ta” Sanchez called 911 at about 4 a.m. Dec. 3, 2014, saying that she had been robbed and assaulted. She was shot while pounding on a door for help on the 6100 block of South Wilton Place.

On Thursday, police identified Spells as a suspect in the killing and connected him to the alleged sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl, which took place between Febuary 7 and 16. 

Police said at a news conference that DNA and residential surveillance footage taken near the scene led investigators on the case to spells.

Photo of Deshawnda Sanchez, a transgender woman who was murdered in South LA in December 2014. (Photo by South L.A. Intersections)

There are currently no hate crime allegations filed against Spells, but Barling said that Sanchez’s gender identity is believed to have played a role in the attack. 

Sanchez is one in a string of recent crimes against transgender individuals in Los Angeles. This past January, a transgender woman named Yazmin Payne was found stabbed at the scene of an apartment fire in Van Nuys. 

“Three transgender women of color have been killed in the last four months in Los Angeles and there seems to be no end in sight to these tragic homicides,” said the National LGBTQ Task Force in response to Payne’s murder.  

“The level of violence against transgender women in this country is unconscionable and has no place in our society,” they said.

According to the LA Times, Spells faces life in state prison without parole if convicted.