SAN FRANCISCO—On Sunday, November 12, 2023, 32-year-old Hamza Walupupu solicited a then-20-year-old transgender sex worker Leniyah Butler or Leion Butler for sexual favors in the Tenderloin District. He drove her to a parking lot in Crissy Field in the Presidio.
After sexual intercourse, Butler told Walupupu that she was transgender. At this, Walupupu got mad. He wished to get a refund, and he wanted to kick her out of his vehicle.
Things spiraled when she shot him once in his eye with her handgun. Butler left Walupupu at the scene of the incident. She then stole his vehicle, and she drove it to the Bayview-Hunters Point District, attempting to wipe away DNA and fingerprints off before abandoning the vehicle altogether. She also disposed of the murder weapon, but Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) arrested her a week later with help from a license plate reader database.
Butler was charged with second-degree murder, though federal jury acquitted her on that count. She was found guilty in April 2025 of voluntary manslaughter. Her attorney argued her act was in self-defense, which was why she got a voluntary manslaughter charge instead of a murder charge.
As of November 2025, Butler was sentenced to five years in a federal women’s prison.
