Defense attorneys for the transgender sex worker accused of killing a man in San Francisco's Crissy Field in November 2023 opened their case with a gut-wrenching portrait of Leniyah Butler's childhood that was rife with emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Butler has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges.
Butler, 21, is charged with fatally shooting Hamza Walupupu, 32, just before dawn November 12, 2023 after he had picked her up in a Hyundai Accent in the Tenderloin district with the intent of paying her for sex.
A close friend of Butler's also testified that she'd had oral sex with Walupupu in the past.
In opening statements March 17, Butler's defense attorney Shaffy Moeel cited self defense. Moeel told the Bay Area Reporter on the first day of the trial that her client wants to be referred to as Leniyah. She is listed as such on the court documents along with Leion Butler, which is not her deadname. Those documents were changed on March 17. Previous court records included Butler's deadname, which the B.A.R. isn't publishing.
The court heard testimony from Butler's foster mother, Tajada Scarborough, who started taking care of Butler and her siblings in 2004. Scarborough said that Butler's mother, Leslie Blueford, maintained a lot of contact with her kids, though the City and County of San Francisco removed them from her care after Butler's brother fell out of a second-story window after crawling over Blueford, who was sleeping.
"I can't imagine not being able to see my own two children," Scarborough said.
But Scarborough said it wasn't exactly a safe environment – alleging that Blueford's brother, who was unnamed, molested the defendant as a child while she was there.
Asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Davidson: "Did she [Butler] tell you [Scarborough] what the touching was about?"
Answered Scarborough: "He touched her penis. He, uh, tried to stick his penis in her anus."
Scarborough testified that she asked Butler if she told her mother about it. Butler's mother "didn't believe" her about the alleged molestation, Scarborough testified, and nobody called police as far as she knew.
Scarborough also testified she learned from Butler that her late husband, Kenneth, also touched her.
"Leniyah said she was touched, that her penis was touched," she testified. "With that, I told him to get out of my house."
Rhonelle Bruder, a defense expert witness on sex trafficking matters who is working on a Ph.D. at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in Toronto, testified that in her view, Butler was a victim of child sex trafficking when she was a teenager. She based this conclusion on her ongoing studies and an interview with Butler.
"From my understanding, there was manipulation; there was psychological abuse; there were threats; there was pressure," Bruder said. "Her mother had, at one point, been a sex worker, but she felt she was too old to continue to engage, and therefore it was Ms. Butler's responsibility."
Blueford was reached for comment by phone March 20 but declined to talk to a reporter.
The trial is being held in the courtroom of Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, at the federal courthouse at 450 Golden Gate Avenue, near San Francisco City Hall.
While homicide cases typically are adjudicated in county courts, the fact that the killing took place on federal land gives the United States government original jurisdiction on this matter.
Defendant's godmother alleges past sex with victim
Another March 20 witness – the last till the trial resumes March 24 – was Laniyah Monroe, who described herself as Butler's godmother.
Monroe described being a godmother as being "a role model in the LGBTQ lifestyle. I help guide them in the right direction." They met at the Oakland transgender blade, on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, when Butler was 16 years old.
A blade is a street or intersection where sex workers congregate to sell sex.
"You're too young to be out here," Monroe remembers telling Butler. When she asked for Leniyah's name, she found out they had the same name and they became friends, also because of the concern for her being a minor on the blade.
"I took her under my wing," Monroe testified. "It's rough out there. We get robbed, hurt. It's just not a safe place. ... There's always guys who come up, 'Look at those fags, making money,' and they pretend they are interested then threaten for their money back."
Monroe said she has personal knowledge of these incidents and they're "always on my mind."
"You never know what may happen," she testified. "If you can't fight them off with your hands, keep something so you can possibly save your life."
Body language is important to staying safe, Monroe continued. "If you talk to me crazy that's a red flag. ... It's fine [for clients in denial of or bothered by their sexual attraction to trans women] until the urge is gone," she testified.
Monroe continued that if a client takes a sex worker outside of a three-block radius of the blade, it becomes uncomfortable.
"You can kinda sense when someone is up to something," she said. "When someone is too turnt [intoxicated] on whatever [alcohol or other controlled substance] they're on, I don't have the patience for it."
Asked Moeel: "How big is the trans sex worker community at the Oakland trans blade?"
Answered Monroe: "Lately, a good 10-15 girls who are out there. ... They go back and forth from the Oakland one to the San Francisco blade ... They [in San Francisco] don't like the Black girls to go over there."
Monroe testified she recognized Walupupu, whom she said she met two years ago near the Oakland blade.
"After that experience, any time he pulled up, I wouldn't get in the car," Monroe testified. "I sold him sex before – oral sex before."
Monroe said the two disputed about where they'd be comfortable making the transaction – eventually they decided on a parking lot, where Walupupu received oral sex.
"He had a little attitude," Monroe said. "There's not too many ... Jamaican? There was an accent. I believe it was Jamaican, if I'm not mistaken."
(Walupupu was initially from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.)
"He got mad because I wanted to do it with a condom," Monroe continued. "It was musky down there."
In a one-question cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney George Hageman asked Monroe if she saw anything herself of Walupupu's killing. Monroe did not.
Government cross-examines trafficking expert
Hageman also questioned Bruder's competence to speak to the matter at hand – Walupupu's killing.
Asked Hageman: "You didn't ask her [Butler] about knowing Mr. Walupupu?"
Answered Bruder: "No."
Asked Hageman: "You didn't ask about when he asked for a refund?"
Answered Bruder: "We didn't talk about what happened on November 11, 2023." (The killing occurred November 12, 2023.)
Later, Hageman asked Bruder if she knew where the blades – or, areas where sex workers can be found – were in Oakland and San Francisco. She did not.
Asked Hageman: "You're not a psychologist, right? You didn't conduct a psychological evaluation?"
Answered Bruder: "I did not."
Asked Hageman: "Did you interview her mother?"
Answered Bruder: "I did not speak with her."
Asked Hageman: "So, Ms. Butler told you about her relationship with her mother, and now you're telling us about it?"
Answered Bruder: "Correct."
The court also heard testimony March 20 from Dominique Elston, who was Butler's therapist when Butler was a teen. Elston specializes in treating LGBTQ adolescents.
Elston testified that Butler "experienced physical, emotional, and sexual abuse."
"She experienced emotional abuse from her mother and other members of her family," Elston testified. "She'd be screamed at, yelled at, cussed at, and called names."
Elston said Butler confided in her she'd experienced sexual abuse "from the ages of 4 up until 13," at the hands of four or five "different men in her family throughout her life."
"She told me nobody would believe her," Elston said. "She was sex trafficked because she didn't have any means of income at the time."
However, Elston testified that Butler didn't say anything about "anyone specific involved" in victimizing her.
Elston also diagnosed Butler with unspecified conduct disorder.
The court also heard testimony from Danielle Alkov, medical director of the Castro-Mission Health Center. Alkov was Butler's primary care provider, and she testified that on November 16, 2023 Butler told her that she killed Walupupu, exasperatingly describing the incident four days prior. Alkov did not tell law enforcement what had happened, citing patient confidentiality concerns.
Private investigator Sebastien Wiggs testified about how he drove and filmed the entire distance between Polk and Post streets – earlier identified as San Francisco's transgender blade – and the Crissy Field East Beach Parking Lot, where the killing took place. This was done to show how dark it was the night of the killing, and it was done at the same time of night with the moon at the same phase. However, Hageman pointed out the sun rose at a different time that morning than the morning of the killing.
Government rests
When the prosecution rested Thursday morning, Illston read an instruction to the jury not to misconstrue evidence entered Wednesday. The government played audio recordings of jailhouse phone calls, in which Butler was urged to plead insanity.
The defense had asked Illston to make the instruction.
"You should understand Ms. Butler has pleaded not guilty in this case, and she is not making an insanity defense," the judge said.
The government's last witness was a forensics expert, Lynn O'Connor, who used Bluestar Forensic blood reagent applied to the Hyundai front seat.
O'Connor determined Walupupu was outside the car, which he'd been driving, when he was shot.
"The amount of blood on the seat, on the driver's seat of the Hyundai, indicates someone was leaning over the top of it," O'Connor testified. "There is also blood evident on his left forearm."
Walupupu's family members who have been in court have declined to speak to the B.A.R.
This is the fourth day of the second-degree murder trial of Leniyah Butler. Read the third day's coverage here.
Never miss a story! Keep up to date on the latest news, arts, politics, entertainment, and nightlife.
Sign up for the Bay Area Reporter's free weekday email newsletter. You'll receive our newsletters and special offers from our community partners.
Support California's largest LGBTQ newsroom. Your one-time, monthly, or annual contribution advocates for LGBTQ communities. Amplify a trusted voice providing news, information, and cultural coverage to all members of our community, regardless of their ability to pay -- Donate today!
