more recently: his experience in prison has already resulted in one suicide attempt http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/06/19/ky-petersons-mom-my-sons-life-danger
You can take everything they say Ky has going against him and throw it all out. It's true that everything they list stands in the way of fair and just treatment but there is one thing that gets little mention. Ky admitted that he committed the murder and gave three different versions of what happened. No district attorney should be able to lose this case. With three different versions Ky's story will have no credibility, despite the reasons he might have for not being upfront with the police. Without amazing representation he loses. If he had kept his mouth shut everything that is stacked against him might mean that the outcome would be no different but there isn't even a chance of it being different because he talked to the police.
Did Ky commit the crime? Yes, in self defence (according to him). Should he have to face responsibility for the loss of human life? yes. Should someone have to spend 20 years in prison for self defence (again, allegedly, I know very little about this case)? no, especially if there are no violent priors. Black trans people live incredibly dangerous existences. trans women of colour, for example, have a 1 in 8 chance of being murdered. Being a black trans man doesn't suddenly make your life any easier (though I don't have specific numbers for trans men), and as you being to pass as a man, it means you inherit the way that society treats black men (i.e. poorly).
I don't debate it. A prosecutor's world is pretty black and white. Can I convict this person regardless of the nuances of what they did? What is the maximum sentence that I can get this person convicted of? The only just outcome is to get the maximum sentence that a prosecutor can convict on. Did they talk to the cops? Great, they are now fucked. First base of not ending up in jail is not talking to the cops, talking is all you need to do leave yourself irrevocably fucked. If Ky acted in self defense he should have let his lawyer make that case. If it was self defense I don't know that he has any responsibility in the guys death. Being a black man, or black trans man is definitely going to make life harder, especially when it comes to being involved in murder in the south. Putting your murder case on a silver platter for the DA by talking is suicidal.