Trans sex worker convicted of voluntary manslaughter in shooting death

Transgender sex worker Leniyah Butler was convicted Monday of voluntary manslaughter by a federal jury in the shooting death of a man who had picked her up in the Tenderloin with the intent of paying for sex. The jury deliberated a little over two days and found that Butler was not guilty of the more serious second-degree murder charge.

Butler, 21, shot Hamza Walupupu, 32, just before dawn November 12, 2023 in Crissy Field after he had picked her up in a Hyundai Accent in the Tenderloin district. Butler had pleaded not guilty.

The trial started March 17. The verdict was reached on March 31, which is Transgender Day of Visibility. The jury and alternates appeared to consist of 10 men and six women.

The court reconvened about 2:45 p.m. for the reading of the verdict. Though the jury reached the voluntary manslaughter conclusion, jurors did not have to agree on a particular theory of how to get there, of which there were two: voluntary manslaughter in a sudden quarrel or passion, or voluntary manslaughter by means of imperfect self-defense; the latter of which meaning that a defendant had acted in the belief they needed self-defense but such a belief wasn’t reasonable. A finding of complete self-defense would have ended in an acquittal.

After court adjourned, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Davidson, speaking for the government, declined to comment.

Patrick D. Robbins, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, issued a statement late March 31.

“We extend our sincere condolences to the victim’s family, whose son and brother was taken from them prematurely, and hope today’s verdict brings some measure of justice,” Robbins stated in a news release. “We commend the swift actions of the FBI agents, who promptly and thoroughly investigated this case from the moment the victim’s body was found in the Presidio.”

Sanjay Virmani, the new FBI special agent in charge at the San Francisco field office, stated, "This conviction demonstrates the FBI’s unwavering commitment to seeking justice for victims of violent crime."

“Through tireless investigative work and collaboration with our law enforcement partners, we ensured that the defendant was held accountable for this senseless act," he continued. "The FBI will continue to pursue those who commit violent offenses and threaten the safety of our communities.”

Defense attorney Shaffy Moeel and family of Butler’s who were present in court declined to comment.

The foreperson of the jury declined to comment on the record.

Family of Walupupu who’d been present in court on previous days were not there for the reading of the verdict.

The case
The defense had argued that Butler acted in self-defense after Walupupu demanded his money back and expressed surprise after Butler revealed she is trans. Walupupu had picked Butler up at the intersection of Post and Polk streets, which is called the blade, Moeel had told the jury. There’s another blade in the Mission district, but the Tenderloin intersection is known as a place where transgender and gender-nonconforming sex workers can be found.

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 trial was held in Judge Susan Illston’s courtroom, who is a judge for 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 gave the United States government original jurisdiction on this matter.

Federal prosecutors maintained Butler acted deliberately and intentionally in the shooting. During closing arguments March 26, they laid out the prongs of second-degree murder in a PowerPoint presentation, showing evidence the jury had heard in the preceding six days under each to illustrate how Butler should be found guilty on the more serious charge.

Davidson said the case was simple because there was “the crime, the cover-up, [and] the confession,” the latter referring to Butler’s FBI interview in which she admitted to killing Walupupu.

Davidson said, referencing the jury instructions, that “there’s no room for sympathy.”

“Ms. Butler did not say he [Walupupu] was drunk or driving erratically or that he threatened to rape or kill her,” Davidson said. “She was the one with the gun, and he was outside the car.”

The motive, Davidson argued, was anger.

Walupupu “was not posing an imminent threat, and so Ms. Butler shot him because she was mad, because she wanted the money, because she didn’t want to look ‘dumb as fuck,’ because she didn’t want to be stranded, because she didn’t want to be cold,” said Davidson.

Defense Attorney David Rizk agreed there was a cover-up but alleged it was the government’s for not adequately investigating the case and, in an animated closing argument, said the federal government doesn’t listen to people like Butler.

“He isolated her for a reason,” Rizk said, referring to the drive from the Tenderloin district where he’d picked her up to the dark Presidio parking lot where the killing took place. “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 had argued that Butler’s gender identity and race played into the investigative actions taken by law enforcement working the case.

“This FBI, this federal government, didn’t even bother to look,” he said. “They [law enforcement] 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.”

Through the course of the case, the victim’s alleged beliefs that he was under a voodoo spell were discussed, as was a diagnosis of schizophrenia and testimony from other sex workers about past interactions with him. The defense also questioned law enforcement about nicknaming Butler “Tootsie Roll” and using that as the name of the operation to arrest her.

The jury began deliberations March 26. On March 27, the court reconvened, as the jury asked the court to define, in layman’s terms, the legal term-of-art “malice aforethought,” which is a prong necessary for a second-degree murder conviction, but not necessary for a voluntary manslaughter conviction. Illston responded that the only definition the court could give was that given in the jury instructions.

To kill with malice aforethought means to kill either deliberately and intentionally, or “recklessly with extreme disregard for human life,” according to the instructions.

After the verdict, Illston thanked the jurors for their service.

“You did one of the hardest things we ask someone to do – to sit in judgment of one another,” she said.

Sentencing was set for June 27.

Cynthia Laird contributed reporting.

This story has been updated.

4/1/25: This article has been updated with comments from the U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI.