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The Lorena Bobbitt case brought to the fore neuralgic sore spots of the social imaginary of both national and transnational spaces in relation to race, gender and colonial histories that still impinge upon cultural practices and representations. In this article I explore how different theoretical approaches to the performative, literary and cultural aspects of trials, particularly show trials, can illuminate the sexual and racial politics that underpinned the public's fascination with this case. The first section sets the stage by addressing the location of Latinos in the American and Trans-American social imaginaries with a special focus on postcolonial debates and the notion of coloniality of power. The second section addresses how performance studies, literary analysis and anthropological theories have fruitfully recast the study of (show) trials to better appreciate their cultural and political implications. The third section analyzes the stories put forward by both the defense and the prosecution and how they reenacted highly problematic racial and sexual tropes characteristic of the coloniality of power. The fourth and final section analyzes Lorena's performance at trial from the perspective of Butler's theory of gender peformativity and discusses the legal strategy of presenting Lorena as the supplicant immigrant. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]