A sensational trial in San Francisco, California ended Monday with the conviction of a transgender sex worker on voluntary manslaughter charges for the death of her client.

Leniyah Butler, 21, shot the victim, Hamza Walupupu, 32, just before dawn on November 12, 2023 in a parking lot at Crissy Field in San Francisco’s Presidio. Walupupu had picked Butler up earlier in a part of the city’s Tenderloin district where trans sex workers are known to solicit customers.

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Her friend called out his “rude” courtroom behavior, pointing out that it showed a lack of remorse.

Walupupu had stopped at an ATM and paid Butler before driving her to the isolated spot along San Francisco Bay. In an interview with the FBI after her capture, Butler admitted to shooting Walupupu in the head after he allegedly demanded his money back upon learning of her trans identity.

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Butler was quoted in court documents, saying, “There’s no money back. I was never giving the money back to him.”

In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Davidson told the jury Walupupu “was left there in a pool of his own blood,” according to the Bay Area Reporter. “Ms. Butler said she did it. She said, ‘It was a gunshot – head shot or some s**t.’”

Davidson argued that Butler wasn’t in danger of bodily injury because Walupupu was outside his car when he was shot. Her malice was shown by the fact that after the killing, she didn’t call 911. Instead, she drove the victim’s Honda Accent to Hunters Point and wiped it down of fingerprints and DNA evidence.

“At every step of the way, Ms. Butler considers her options,” Davidson said. “She thought about the pros and cons of each.”

“Mr. Walupupu wanted ‘everything’ – Ms. Butler gave him oral sex; she thought she was done; she thought that this was enough; she thought he already knew and, I know this is uncomfortable, we know her pronouns, but Ms. Butler is a biological male, which makes it harder to do everything,” Davidson said.

Butler’s attorney, David W. Rizk, told the jury his client was fighting for her life: Butler’s DNA was discovered under Walupupu’s fingernail.

“Why do you think they clip the fingernails, swab them, and test them for DNA?” he asked. “It’s for evidence of a physical altercation.”

Rizk also quoted from Butler’s FBI interview, when she said, “I was inside the car, and he [Walupupu] was trying to get me out.”

FBI Special Agent Joseph Atneosen asked, “Oh, he was trying to pull you out?”

Butler says, “Yeah.”

Testimony from other sex workers indicated Walupupu was a “regular” known for his erratic behavior and a history of drinking and getting into conflicts. Walupupu had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Rizk reminded the jury.

A toxicology report indicated Walupupu was at almost twice the legal alcohol limit for driving the night he was shot.

“She’s in that small car with an older man, in his 30s,” Rizk told the jury. “He’s very drunk. He’s screaming at her, he’s aggressive – he’s increasingly aggressive – he’s screaming at her, ‘You’re gonna suck this d**k. I’m gonna f**k you. You’re gonna get this money,’ and he’s yelling at her because she told him she was trans, and he says, ‘People get killed like you.’”

“He’s been tussling with her, he’s screaming at her and jumps out of the car, and he’s leaning back into the car and he’s trying to pull her out of the car,” he continued.

“He isolated her for a reason,” Rizk said of the location Walupupu chose for their hook-up. “He took her there to get his sex for free, to sexually assault her, to put her in fear. He never intended to pay. He was never going to pay, and the trouble began when she would not go along with it.”

Rizk said Butler was abused by law enforcement, as well.

“[The FBI] would not believe her because of who she is: because she’s a young, Black, trans sex worker, and sadly because of what he did to Ms. Butler, because of what he put her through and what he said to her and what he did to her,” Rizk said.

“She was justified in shooting him,” Rizk said, “and that’s sad. It’s sad for his family, but it’s not a crime.”

It was Walupupu, Rizk said, who attempted to commit a crime that night.

After just over two days of deliberation, the jury agreed Butler committed voluntary manslaughter. She was found not guilty on a second-degree murder charge.

Butler is scheduled for sentencing June 27. Her conviction carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

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