A murder and hate-crime trial began Tuesday in San Jose, Calif., in the case of a transgendered 19-year-old strangled to death last year, The [San Jose] Mercury News reports. The prosecution contends that Kozi Santino Scott, 22, strangled Manuel Reyes Eredia, also known as Alina Marie Barragan, last January after the two had had sex. The prosecutors say that after Scott and Eredia had sex in Scott’s apartment, they argued about Eredia’s gender. Eredia wore women’s clothing and makeup and reportedly was considering sex-change surgery. Eredia reportedly refused to admit that she was anything but female, which prosecutors say angered Scott. Scott would later tell investigators that voices had urged him to choke that person, take that person’s life. Scott is allegedly to have strangled Eredia with an armlock around the neck.

Charlie Gillan, Scott’s attorneys, contended that the death was accidental, the result of an argument that escalated into a wrestling match. Gillan said Scott applied a carotid restraint, used in martial arts, to render Eredia unconscious. Gillan said the tactic was necessary since Scott weighed 170 pounds and Eredia weighed 260. He said Scott had used the tactic on others in the past with no lasting effects. In Kozi Scott’s mind, she was going to lose consciousness and regain consciousness, and that would end their struggle, Gillan told jurors. He didn’t think he had the restraint hold on tightly or for very long. The medical evidence will line up with what Mr. Scott says happened.

Eredia’s body was found stuffed in the trunk of a Cadillac owned by Scott’s father. Police were tipped off by a man who had refused to help Scott load the body into the car. Scott also allegedly showed the corpse to his girlfriend, who vomited and fled Scott’s apartment. The trial is expected to last two weeks.