A Dallas County judge denied a defense attorney's request Thursday to use a transgender woman's birth name in court rather than Muhlaysia Booker, the name she used before she was killed.

When Edward Thomas stands trial in an April assault targeting Booker, the jury will hear the victim's chosen name, not "Peirre," Judge Hector Garza ruled.

Booker, 22, was shot and killed a month after the beating, and police have arrested another suspect for that crime.

Thomas, 29, is accused of being the main aggressor in the April 12 attack that left the transgender woman with a broken wrist and concussion.

Edward Thomas, 29, is charged in the April 12, 2019, assault on Muhlaysia Booker. (Dallas County Jail)

According to a warrant, the assault happened after Booker accidentally backed into a car in the parking lot of the Royal Crest Apartments in east Oak Cliff. She told police the other driver refused to let her leave and demanded she pay for the damage at gunpoint.

A large crowd of onlookers formed around the confrontation, and police said someone offered Thomas $200 to beat Booker. In a viral recording of the attack, he is seen punching Booker multiple times. He was arrested two days after the assault and indicted on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in May.

Booker was killed a month after the attack in an unrelated shooting in Far East Dallas. Her assault and death have garnered international attention and have been highlighted by activists as an example of the dangers faced every day by transgender people — particularly those of color.

Andrew W. Wilkerson, Thomas' attorney, argued Thursday that the attention on the case could prevent his client from receiving a fair trial. Booker's name is listed as "Muhlaysia" in the indictment, but he said changing the name from "Peirre" would prejudice the jury, which will hear the assault case in October.

Wilkerson wants the jury to view the altercation as a fight between two men and not a man assaulting a woman.

"The law looks at both of those [instances] differently," Wilkerson said. "As soon as the jury hears this, they're going to be confused."

Muhlaysia Booker, 23, was shot and killed in May, about a month after she was beaten at an east Oak Cliff apartment complex

Wilkerson said he was never given proper notice of the state's motion to change Booker's name in the indictment, which was amended in June to say "Muhlaysia." He tried in July to change Booker's name back to "Peirre" in the indictment, and the motion was denied at that time, as well.

He repeatedly referred to Booker as "Peirre" and as being a man while in court Thursday, noting that Booker's name was never legally changed. Wilkerson also argued the name shouldn't be changed for the court because some of Booker's relatives didn't identify her as "Muhlaysia."

"His mom and dad called him Peirre," Wilkerson said.

Indictments can be amended to allow aliases, prosecutors said in court Thursday. And because Booker referred to herself as "Muhlaysia," and identified as a woman, prosecutors argue the court should honor that.

"Our position is one out of respect," lead prosecutor Jason Hermus told the judge.

Leslie McMurray, transgender education and advocacy coordinator for the Resource Center in Dallas, said how Booker identified herself should be respected. She said it can be a costly process for transgender people to change their legal name and gender on documents.

"She may very well have wanted very much to change her name, but it can be cost-prohibitive," McMurray said.

Thomas' trial is scheduled for Oct. 14. A gag order is in place for the attorneys after Wilkerson made social media posts in June that referred to Booker as a man and characterized the assault as a fight between two men.

"To offer a man twenty years for a fist fight with another man is unconscionable and shows no regard for his life or his future," Wilkerson said in a Facebook post on June 7, according to court records.

The charge against Thomas, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, is a second-degree felony that carries a punishment of between two and 20 years in prison. Police did not link him to Booker's death in May.

In June, police charged 33-year-old Kendrell Lavar Lyles with murder after they said he killed Booker and two other people. Lyles has yet to be indicted on those charges in Dallas County, court records show.