Luna Rozario Maria-Luisa de Leon

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Luna Rozario Maria-Luisa de Leon (/ˈlunə roʊˈzɑrioʊ məˈriə-luˈizə di ˈliɑn/loo-NA RO-zahrio MA-ria LU-ee-sa DE LEE-on; born June 25 2002), is a Mexican lawyer known for passing the Mexican, United States’, and Japanese bar exams.^[1] Additionally, De Leon is known for being Hope’s Peak University’s 83rd Ultimate Lawyer.^[1][2][3]

Early Life and Career

De Leon was born in Tampico, Tamaulipas, to her mother, Adriana Trinidad Rodriguez De Leon, and her father, Joel Maria-Luisa De Leon. De Leon is the second lawyer in her family—following behind her mother, who is a head of the law firm Hoffman Leon Wagner in Dallas, Texas. Her father runs a well known restaurant in Tampico, her hometown, and locals report De Leon herself was sometimes seen bussing tables or helping the staff during peak hours as a teen.^[3]

De Leon states that her interest in law started at ten years old, when she started reading through the law books in her mother’s study.^[3][4] At fifteen years old, De Leon dropped out of school to pursue a legal career through online courses at National Autonomous University of Mexico, a high-end law school in Mexico, which she was able to test into with ease. She received her degree from UNAM at sixteen and shortly thereafter passed the Mexican bar exam.^[1][3][4] Between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, De Leon was known mostly for doing pro bono work for local families.^[3]

At eighteen, De Leon passed the United States bar exam, stating that, “[She felt] that [she] should broaden [her] horizons when it comes to law. [She] often [visits] the United States and felt that [she] could spend some time on those visits helping people.”^[3][4]

Legal Cases

Brandon Stiller/Topher Shawl

In June 2020, De Leon represented Brandon Stiller in a retrial of his 2010 case, where he was accused of murdering his wife and sister-in-law during a camping trip in Texas. Stiller had been on death row since 2010, but De Leon was able to exonerate him, which led to the trial of the real murderer, Kristopher “Topher” Shawl, where De Leon served as the opposing lawyer to Shawl, and placed him in death row where he remains as of present.^[3]

The "Baxter Shuffle" case

One of the weirder cases of De Leon’s career was in July 2020, when the YouTube influencer, Bryan Baxter, was charged with indecent exposure and public nuisance after exposing himself while high on cocaine in De Leon’s hometown. The video of his escapades, mainly trying to breakdance, was uploaded to Twitter to Baxter’s brother’s page with the caption “Bro doing the Baxter shuffle”.^[8] De Leon decided to take up the case as she believed that no one should be punished for this sort of crime, and got him off with a warning.^[3]

The Amaya Triplets Case

In August 2022, De Leon was hired as a defense lawyer by Shawn, Jacob, and Adan Amaya in Pachuca, Hidalgo, three individuals charged with drug-related offenses. The prosecution and local police both argued that they had the defense caught dead to rights with a definite prison sentence for all three, but De Leon was able to get her clients a lighter sentence of 100 hours of community service instead. De Leon has stated that this case is nothing particularly special, but many locals disagree.^[3][5]

Retrial of Noguchi Kiyoko

In March 2023, De Leon volunteered to defend Noguchi Kiyoko, a man put on death row after the accused murder of 2 colleagues, whose bodies were found in a dumpster outside of Kiyoko’s apartment complex. De Leon worked with a fellow Ultimate at Hope’s Peak, Kouko Miyanoshita, they were able to make a case for him to be exonerated, as all of the evidence pointing towards him was circumstantial at best. There is no longer a confirmed culprit for the victims of this case, and the police are not looking to reopen the case anytime soon.^[3][6][7]

Acceptance to Hope's Peak University

De Leon’s recognition by Hope’s Peak University was initiated by a combination of factors. Her young age when passing the Mexican bar exam is reported to have started the University’s interest in De Leon, but an invitation to attend Hope’s Peak University was only extended after her passing of the United States’ bar exam.^[3][4]

In December 2021, Luna passed the Japanese bar exam while attending Hope’s Peak University, and has begun practicing work locally in Tokyo. De Leon is now in her second year at Hope's Peak University as of October 1st.^[2][3]

References

1. Taylor German. “The Top Lawyers of the 21st Century”
2. Hope’s Peak University. “Hope’s Peak University Student Roster”
3. Nicholas Esparza. “The Life of Luna Rozario Maria-Luisa de Leon”
4. @LunaRoseLeon on Twitter
5. TeleVivel News. “Local Hero or Public Menace? Luna Rozario Maria-Luisa de Leon”
6. Tatsuhiko Orihara. “The Career of Detective Miyanoshita.”
7. JapanToday. “Supposed Murderer Behind Gruesome Dumpster Death Proved Innocent”
8. @BaxMan on Twitter. "Bro doing the Baxter shuffle."