Home Blog

Multiple S.F. Criminal Trial Acquittals Demonstrate DA’s Office Waste and Abuse

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
Multiple S.F. Criminal Trial Acquittals Demonstrate DA’s Office Waste and Abuse

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 10, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT: PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org 

**PRESS RELEASE**

Multiple S.F. Criminal Trial Acquittals Demonstrate
DA’s Office Waste and Abuse

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office has obtained several trial acquittals for its clients recently, with San Francisco juries rejecting the prosecution’s charges. These trial results demonstrate that the S.F. District Attorney’s office is clogging the court with cases and keeping people in jail—at enormous public expense—based on evidence that does not hold up under scrutiny. These acquittals also show that S.F. prosecutors are increasingly charging individuals—often people of color, who are impoverished, unhoused, have mental health conditions or substance use disorder—instead of allowing them access to services that would put them on a better path for the long term. Meanwhile, San Francisco Public Defenders are carrying the highest caseload of their peers in the Bay Area, well above the American Bar Association’s recommended standards. 

“These three Black men should not be in the criminal system, taking up courtrooms and jurors’ time,” said elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “These are people who should be offered support, not criminalized. It would be a lot more effective—not to mention less costly for taxpayers—to allow them access to stable housing, treatment, and job opportunities. I am grateful to our tireless, determined defender teams, and to the juries who thoughtfully delivered not-guilty verdicts in these cases.”

Having a Mental Health Condition is Not a Crime

In August 2024, Marcell Collins, 52, was accused of making a criminal threat and committing second-degree robbery—both felonies—after a miscommunication with a restaurant worker over some free mints. Collins, who is unhoused, had entered a Chinatown restaurant to take a few mints from a jar on a counter, as he had done before without incident. This time, however, a worker took the jar from him. The worker was wearing a mask. Collins thought she had asked him what was in his pocket, so he showed her the knife he had been carrying. When that startled the worker, Collins said, “I’m not going to kill you,” and left. The worker thought he had threatened her, and restaurant staff called the police. At trial, Collins and the worker both testified, and it became clear that they had misunderstood each other, likely due to a language barrier. On May 20, the jury acquitted him of both felony charges. 

“Marcell was incarcerated for eight months and a jury found he had committed no crime,” said Deputy Public Defender Jared Rudolph, who represented Collins. “Prosecutors fought us tooth and nail when we proposed mental health diversion, which would have been the more appropriate solution. Unfortunately, it’s a typical occurrence for the District Attorney to oppose mental health diversion.”

In June 2024, Hermon Tamrat, 39—who is unhoused and suffers from serious mental conditions—was jailed after security guards attacked him. The guards had asked him to leave the Embarcadero Center mall, and during a scuffle, Tamrat cut one of the guard’s hands with a knife he had for self-protection. Prosecutors charged Tamrat with felony assault, but a judge later dismissed that case entirely, as evidence showed that Tamrat was acting in self-defense. However, in January 2025—before that case had been dismissed and while Tamrat was still in jail—prosecutors charged him with felony aggravated assault for throwing a milk carton of feces at a Sheriff’s deputy. This charge, known as “gassing,” is an unfortunate occurrence that is not unusual for mental health facilities. Even though his initial case was dismissed in April 2025, and Tamrat had been hospitalized twice for psychiatric emergencies while in jail, prosecutors pushed to keep him in custody to face trial on the gassing charge. In May, a jury fully acquitted Tamrat, and he was released from custody after nearly a year in jail. 

“The tragedy here is that Hermon was in jail for 300 days on false allegations, and while in jail he had a psychotic breakdown that the DAs wanted to squeeze a felony out of,” said Tamrat’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Max Eberitzsch. “Mental health diversion was never offered. Thankfully, the jury understood that a person who clearly has a mental health condition should not be subjected to criminal law and criminal sanctions. I’ll note that this acquittal happened when the DA’s office was posting on Twitter about mental health awareness month.”

Jailed While Innocent: Pretrial Detention Disrupts Lives & Hurts Families

On Jan. 31, 2025, 57-year-old Timothy Watkins got into an argument with a woman on a Muni bus, and was charged with two felonies: assault with a likelihood of causing great bodily injury and battery. Watkins said that the woman got upset with him for talking loudly and then stood over him, yelling into his face. Watkins pushed the woman back in self-defense, but she claimed he punched and stomped her, unprovoked. The woman declined medical help, and police handcuffed Watkins within seconds of arriving. Watkins pleaded to officers to obtain video of the altercation from Muni because it would exonerate him. When investigators eventually went to retrieve the video, Muni officials said a server error had deleted the footage. At trial, the woman, the bus driver, and other witnesses all gave accounts that were inconsistent or contradictory, and on June 16, a jury acquitted him of all charges. 

“This is another case involving a Black man that never should have been charged, since it was clear that witness accounts were completely inconsistent,” said Deputy Public Defender Tatiana Howard, Watkins’ attorney. “Instead, Mr. Watkins had to be in jail for nearly half a year, was almost evicted, and lost his health insurance while waiting for the chance to tell the jury what really happened.”  

These three cases reveal a troubling pattern: vulnerable San Franciscans are being jailed and prosecuted based on weak or misunderstood evidence, rather than offered help. Juries saw through the flaws in the prosecutions and acquitted individuals who should never have been charged. The S.F. Public Defender’s Office opposes the criminalization of poverty, mental illness, and homelessness—and encourages investments in mental health treatment, housing, and other services that truly promote safety and justice.

###

Immigrant Justice Groups Rally in San Francisco, Sacramento to Protest ICE Operations at Immigration Courts and Defend Immigrants, Due Process

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
Immigrant Justice Groups Rally in San Francisco, Sacramento to Protest ICE Operations at Immigration Courts and Defend Immigrants, Due Process

May 28, 2025

For Immediate Release

Immigrant Justice Groups Rally in San Francisco, Sacramento to Protest ICE Operations at Immigration Courts and Defend Immigrants, Due Process

Link for photo, video and audio files available for media to use: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bgIJTUiitH2FY2awouuM9P-GbHGr9Wdl

San Francisco, CA – Over 100 people in San Francisco and dozens of community members in Sacramento attended simultaneous press conferences to protest recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations at immigration courts in Northern California and around the country.  In the past week, ICE agents escalated its fear mongering campaign against noncitizens: conducting operations and arrests inside immigration court buildings, where people go to pursue their legal immigration proceedings. These operations, along with misleading messaging by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are an attempt to bypass the legal system, undermining due process for everyone. 

In San Francisco, community members, attorneys, organizers and others gathered at the corner near 100 Montgomery Street, the location of the San Francisco Immigration Court, where five people have been arrested and detained by ICE in the past week. Holding signs that read “Hands Off Immigrants,” “End the Deportations and Abductions,” and “Defend Due Process,” speakers committed to defending immigrant communities and gave out red “know your rights” cards.

In Sacramento, over 40 people, including organizers, attorneys, elected officials, community members, and others gathered in front of the Sacramento Immigration Court at 650 Capitol Mall. ICE agents have conducted operations at the Court over the last week, and arrested three asylum seekers who were attending their court hearing on Tuesday May 27. People held signs that read “End The Disappearances!” “Due Process for All” and “Anti-Family Separation.” The Sacramento FUEL Network and the Sacramento Attorney of the Day Program gave out resources.

You can find a list of Rapid Response Networks in California at https://www.ccijustice.org/carrn

Quotes from spokespeople below:

In San Francisco

“We’re here as part of a united front of immigrant justice organizations and other community groups, to say that we refuse to support this coordinated campaign of terror,” said Sanika Mahajan, Director of Community Engagement & Organizing at Mission Action, member of SF Rapid Response Network. “We refuse to be intimidated. We will stand up and fight back, and will be here to defend our immigrant communities and make sure they have access to due process, day in and day out. They want to divide us up but we will stand united. This is a fight for all workers against the billionaires that profit off of deporting and repressing us.”

“Your right to go to court, to share your story with a judge, to present evidence. These are basic and critical Constitutional rights. These are cornerstones of our democracy. And we are here today to sound the alarm that these fundamental rights are under attack by the Trump regime.” said Mano Raju, the elected Public Defender for San Francisco. “To my fellow local and state elected leaders, I ask that you support the work of rapid response networks, immigration legal services, and our immigration unit by investing more funding in this critical infrastructure. I ask that you also call out the Trump administration and ICE for their scare tactics and loudly reject them.”

“We are not going to stand by and let authoritarianism take over our country. We have the power to fight for the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to be free,” said Milli Atkinson, Director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program of the Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco. “To the advocates here today, you have the power every day to stand up for justice and to be on the right side of history.”

“We want to remind people that they have the right to oppose any attempt by the government to dismiss their case. They have the right to talk to a volunteer lawyer for advice, and they have the right to ask for help from a volunteer if ICE is trying to arrest them.” said Lisa Knox, Legal Director and Co-Executive Director of the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. “It takes all of us to show up for our community and neighbors. They’re starting with immigrants, but they’re not going to end there. We need to show that we are not going to take it.”

What we’re seeing in courts across the country, including here in San Francisco, is a fear tactic, plain and simple,” said Luna Osleger-Montañez of the We Fight Back Coalition. “The legal measures for immigrants in our country are actually really meager. They’re not sufficient, and all of them were won by the organizing and struggle of people who came before us. Even those meager rights that we have now, the right wing and the billionaire class of this country are trying to take those away.”

“We all know that ICE camping outside of immigration court is a menace to public safety,” said Fernando Antunez, Social Worker at Legal Services for Children and FREE SF member. “We say ‘NO’ to any and all collusion between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials. District Attorney Jenkins: stop colluding with federal immigration.”

“We need to say ‘NO’ to the Dublin detention center,” said Iris Barrera, Field Director at TUWU (Trabajadores Unidos Workers United), in reference to ICE’s plans to detain immigrants at the former FCI Dublin women’s prison in Dublin, California, “which was shut down just last year in April through organizing and mobilizing. If they succeed in re-opening this facility, it would be the biggest detention center in Northern California. This isn’t just about Dublin, this is about the working class across Northern California.”

In Sacramento

“We are here to address a deeply concerning pattern of actions by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that undermines the constitutional right to due process and attempts to intimidate individuals navigating the system.” said Jessie Mabry, CEO of Opening Doors. “This latest tactic of detaining immigrants at immigration courts immediately after attempting to unilaterally dismiss their case, including any applications they have filed is a new low.”

“This coordinated response spanning all three immigration courts in Northern California underscores the urgency felt throughout our region. Together, we are sending a clear message: we will not allow intimidation, deceptive tactics, or the abuse of enforcement power to replace justice and due process.” said Marcus Tang, Executive Director of California Immigration Project. “These appalling tactics weaponize the legal process and turn our courts where people go to follow the law into traps.”

“Keeping Sacramento families together is, at its core, a human rights issue, and one we must all stand up for. Sanctuary policies are legal and ensure safety for all.  When families are torn apart, it’s not a policy failure, it’s human failure.” said Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang. “I will never stop fighting for our immigrant and refugee families and will continue to stand up for all working people in this city.” 

“Three men who followed the rules and attended their hearings as scheduled, two of them asylum seekers who filed their forms on time as instructed are now detained at Golden State Annex in McFarland, CA, far from family and community support here in Sacramento.” said Jessie DeHaven, Volunteer Attorney with the Sacramento Attorney of the Day Program.  “When individuals in immigration proceedings fear going to court, this undermines the right to due process for everyone. We must stand in solidarity with asylum seekers and other non-citizens. If we allow the government to take away people’s right to due process, we are all at risk.

“We are here to let the government and its actors acting in bad faith who have chosen to target immigrants that we as a collective have chosen to stand by and protect our neighbors outside the courtroom and anywhere this fight takes us.” said Giselle Garcia, Volunteer with NorCal Resist. 

“As of Tuesday, May 27, we are aware of at least three arrests made by ICE at the Sacramento Immigration Court. These arrests were made in a public space inside the courthouse and have been witnessed by the arrestee’s family members and other individuals in removal proceedings. This practice is clearly meant to evoke fear and panic in our community. And this isn’t just happening here, it’s part of a national trend.” said Kamalpreet Chohan, Coordinator of the Sacramento Attorney of the Day Program housed at the California Immigration Project. “This system is designed to isolate people. But we are here to remind each other: we’re not in this alone. We are stronger, and safer, when we show up for one another. Let us respond not with fear, but with collective action.”

“FUEL partners, community members, and volunteer attorneys are on the frontlines advocating for and protecting our neighbors, family members, and friends. Our community partners are moving mountains day in and day out, powered by love but with very limited resources. We cannot do this alone.” said Claudia Rios Manzo, Program Coordinator of the Sacramento FUEL Network. “Our undocumented community, without a vote, has rallied countless times and garnered support in your names. Many of your platforms were built on the backs of their stories. Now is the time to act on and fulfill those promises. This fight for justice needs your support and allyship.”

# # #

SF Public Defender Mano Raju Responds to State Bar Decision Ordering SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to Take Corrective Action to Address Multiple Ethics Complaints

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
SF Public Defender Mano Raju Responds to State Bar Decision Ordering SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to Take Corrective Action to Address Multiple Ethics Complaints

**PRESS STATEMENT**

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 9, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT: PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org

SF Public Defender Mano Raju Responds to State Bar Decision Ordering SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to Take Corrective Action to Address Multiple Ethics Complaints

SAN FRANCISCO — In response to the State Bar of California ordering San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to take corrective action for multiple ethics complaints, San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju issued the following statement:

“Prosecutors are rarely disciplined for breaches of professional ethics, so this decision by the State Bar ordering District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to take corrective action, speaks volumes.

It’s ironic that District Attorney Jenkins, who often opposes diversion in court — and thereby closes off an avenue for our clients to better their lives — has now been ordered to complete professional diversion.

When an elected District Attorney has a history of ethical violations, it undermines the integrity of the entire District Attorney’s Office and leads to wrongful convictions and unjust incarceration.”

###

Public Defender Mano Raju’s Departmental Budget Presentation FY 2025-2026

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
Public Defender Mano Raju’s Departmental Budget Presentation FY 2025-2026

On Feb. 19, 2025, elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju gave our office’s annual community budget presentation. PD Raju discussed our office’s critical work defending more than 20,000 indigent clients per year, and our services that strengthen communities. Learn about our budget and priorities for 2025-2026 that will allow us to continue pursuing justice and community safety for all.

Video of this presentation is below.

SF Public Defender’s Office Files Amicus Brief Supporting Policy That Prohibits Racially-Biased Traffic Stops

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
SF Public Defender’s Office Files Amicus Brief Supporting Policy That Prohibits Racially-Biased Traffic Stops

Police union’s suit challenges new policy that limits pretext stops

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 5, 2025
PRESS CONTACT: Public Relations Officer Jessie Seyfer | pdr-mediarelations@sfgov.org | (628) 271-9800

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office has filed an amicus brief joining the City of San Francisco as it fights a lawsuit brought by the SF Police Officers Association regarding the SFPD’s policy restricting the use of racially-biased traffic stops, also known as pretext stops. The POA is seeking to block the pretext stops policy, and a hearing on the City’s motion to dismiss the suit will take place this morning in San Francisco Superior Court.

“Racially-biased traffic stops disproportionately harm Black and brown communities, and are out of step with San Francisco’s values of racial equality and fairness,” said Brian Cox, manager of the Integrity Unit of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. “That is why San Francisco joined several other U.S. cities in enacting a reasonable policy limiting the use of pretext stops. The City Charter empowers the Police Commission to set policy for SFPD and to enact this policy, and the Commission did so after conducting extensive community outreach. The POA had ample time to voice its opinion, and now is desperately trying to keep in place a police practice that is ineffective and harmful.”

The city’s Police Commission voted in February 2024 to enact the pretext traffic stop policy, which restricts police from stopping drivers for traffic infractions as an excuse to detain, question, or search the person or their vehicle. Police officers often use pretext stops to fish for evidence of wrongdoing that has nothing to do with the traffic infraction. Study after study has found that Black drivers are disproportionately stopped and searched in California and nationally. San Francisco is no exception: According to a 2024 San Francisco Police Department data report, Black people are stopped at nearly seven times the rate as white people, searched at almost 11 times more and subjected to use of force at more than 12 times the rate. 

Pretextual stops don’t just traumatize and harass Black people; they’re also a particularly ineffective police practice. The evidence shows they are a waste of public tax resources and officers’ time and are akin to a “needle in a haystack” strategy. An analysis of San Francisco traffic stop data confirms that officers rarely—if ever—recover contraband or arrest drivers during pretextual stops yet continue to conduct thousands of them. 

“The harm caused by racially-biased traffic stops—aka ‘driving while Black’—is beyond dispute,” said elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “Pretextual stops wreak economic, physical, and psychological damage to communities of color here in San Francisco and across the country. I am proud that San Francisco is ending this detrimental practice.” 

###

SF Public Defender’s Office Files Complaint Against SFPD Officers for Using Excessive Force on Protest Bystander

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
SF Public Defender’s Office Files Complaint Against SFPD Officers for Using Excessive Force on Protest Bystander

Body-worn camera footage shows officers shoved, knocked to the ground, and ridiculed a woman who was on her way to work

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 18, 2024
PRESS CONTACT: Public Relations Officer Jessie Seyfer  |  pdr-mediarelations@sfgov.org  |  (628) 271-9800

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco police in riot gear repeatedly shoved a woman, violently tackled her to the ground, and ridiculed her while she was in handcuffs in July, according to a complaint the San Francisco Public Defender’s office filed today with the Department of Police Accountability. The woman, San Francisco resident Amelia Jones, was a bystander and not part of a nearby protest against U.S. involvement in Israel’s attack on Gaza. But when she saw police yank a person to the ground, she yelled for them to stop. Police aggressively blocked her way and yanked her to the ground as well, while letting others pass on the same street. Officers arrested Jones, and their body-worn camera footage contradicts how the officers described the incident in their police reports. A judge who later reviewed the footage dismissed all charges against Jones. 

“Multiple officers violated San Francisco Police Department policies by using unnecessary force, failing to intervene in that wrongful use of force, and writing dishonest accounts of the arrest,” said Deputy Public Defender Brian Cox, who heads the Integrity Unit of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. “Incidents like these demonstrate how police aggressively escalate interactions with community members when it is completely unnecessary, with disturbing and traumatic results.”

On the morning of July 24, Jones, 30, was walking her bike down Sacramento Street toward  her office near the intersection of Kearny Street. Several police officers, carrying batons and wearing riot helmets, were lined up across Sacramento at the intersection with Kearny while a protest that happened a few blocks away was dispersing. Jones saw police suddenly yank a cyclist to the ground and she and several other bystanders began yelling for the officers to stop hurting the person.

Officers told Jones to get back, even though another person who was also shouting about the treatment of the cyclist was permitted to remain at the intersection. Jones tried to approach the intersection and an officer shoved her in the back as she turned away from the officer. Jones told the officers, “I’m on my way to work, I’m on the phone with my coworkers, and I’m just trying to help someone.” Officers continued to block her and pushed her to the side. Panicked by the officers’ violent actions, Jones began screaming for help and raised her arms in the air. An officer shoved her repeatedly, and Jones’ hand touched the officer’s helmet as she brought her arms down. The officer then violently tackled Jones to the ground. Officers pinned Jones’ legs and cuffed her. At no time did officers try to calm Jones or defuse her visible distress. The officer who shoved Jones can be heard ridiculing her, saying, “I know it’s very exciting to have people cheering for you.” A few moments later, the same officer taunts her: “Your fan base is gone, so you’re not really performing for anybody now.” 

Jones was arrested and charged with resisting/obstructing an executive officer, battery on a peace officer, and resisting arrest. Despite having no arrest record, Jones was held in County Jail for 36 hours. The DA’s office formally charged Jones with four misdemeanors, and the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent her. Her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Elly Leggatt, challenged the charges, citing the body-worn camera footage, and a judge dismissed them.

“I would like to hold police accountable for their misconduct, which has caused me a lot of anguish and pain,” said Jones. “There have been multiple women on local San Francisco news who have also been forcibly arrested by police for either minor transgressions or nothing at all. Women just crossing the street, on their way to work, or selling hot dogs. Our police are trained to react with aggression and violence. That erodes trust.”

The Department of Police Accountability is an impartial city agency that reports to the San Francisco Police Commission. It evaluates and investigates complaints from community members regarding allegations of misconduct by San Francisco Police Department officers and issues reports on whether officers violated policies. Once the DPA issues its findings, the Police Department and/or the Commission can decide on a possible disciplinary response.

Note regarding the body-worn camera footage: For full transparency, videos are unedited. Officer Williams had the closest interaction with Jones. 

###

Jury Acquits Legally Blind Man for Second Time in Two Years

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
Jury Acquits Legally Blind Man for Second Time in Two Years

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 31, 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org | Public Relations Officer Jessie Seyfer | (628) 271-9800

**PRESS RELEASE**

Jury Acquits Legally Blind Man for Second Time in Two Years
Charles Underwood, who is unhoused, was arrested after a man kicked the boxes he was sleeping in

SAN FRANCISCO — For the second time in two years, a San Francisco jury has fully acquitted a legally blind, unhoused man who has repeatedly been harassed living in the Marina District. In the latest case, prosecutors accused Charles Underwood, 52, of resisting arrest and of making threats against a man who kicked the boxes in which Underwood was sleeping, twice, in front of the Presidio Theater on Chestnut Street. Jurors acquitted Underwood on Sept. 11, approximately a year after a separate jury acquitted him in a case where prosecutors said Underwood kicked a woman at a different location on Chestnut Street. In that case, Underwood testified that he did not intend to kick the woman but had gotten his feet tangled in her dog’s leash. The case was notable also because Underwood decided to remain incarcerated so that his trial would occur more quickly than most other trials were occurring at the time. (More info on the SF Superior Court’s harmful trial delays can be found here.) 

“Mr. Underwood is just trying to sleep in a safe place, and he has been harassed several times,” said Deputy Public Defender Amy Tao, Underwood’s attorney. “The cardboard boxes are his only form of shelter. In this instance, when someone acted aggressively toward him, he became alarmed and used his words to defend himself.”

On July 12 around 8:30 a.m., Underwood was sleeping in several boxes that were placed in a line outside the Presidio Theater, and felt two distinct kicks to the boxes. He got out of the boxes and exchanged words with the man, who admitted in court that he then feigned “head kicks” at Underwood. Eight police officers arrived and immediately arrested Underwood without getting his side of the story. Officers forced Underwood to the ground face down and continued to use force and a “pain compliance technique” as he was telling officers that he was not resisting and could not breathe. 

“Unhoused members of the community deserve compassion and care,” said elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “I appreciate the jury’s thoughtful attention to this case, and applaud Mr. Underwood’s defense team for safeguarding the rights of a vulnerable person.”

The defense team included Tao and Investigator Terry Collins.

###

S.F. Public Defender’s Office Celebrates 25 Years of its Clean Slate Expungement Program

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
S.F. Public Defender’s Office Celebrates 25 Years of its Clean Slate Expungement Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 4, 2024

MEDIA CONTACTS: 

Jessie Seyfer | SF Public Defender’s Office | PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org | (628) 271-9800

Will Matthews | Californians for Safety and Justice | will@safeandjust.org

**PRESS RELEASE**

San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Celebrates 25 Years of its Clean Slate Expungement Program

State laws recently expanded eligibility for cleaning up criminal records, adding to the demand for vital expungement services throughout California

SAN FRANCISCO — On Oct. 3, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office celebrated 25 years of its Clean Slate expungement program that helps people clean up their criminal records, opening up opportunities for jobs, housing, and career advancement. The Public Defender Clean Slate program has assisted approximately 60,000 people with expungement services. At the event, the program was awarded a certificate of honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which was presented by Supervisor Ahsha Safai and staff from Supervisors Shamann Walton and Aaron Peskin; and a certificate of recognition from the California State Legislature presented by staff from the office of Assemblymember Phil Ting. The event was co-hosted by Californians for Safety and Justice, whose TimeDone program worked to pass and implement SB 731, which expanded eligibility and automates some expungements in California.

The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office started its Clean Slate program in 1999 under the leadership of the late Public Defender Jeff Adachi. Adachi was the Chief Attorney at the time under the administration of Jeff Brown. The program has grown to expand the number of people it can serve under the leadership of the current elected Public Defender Mano Raju. The goal of Clean Slate is to open up opportunities for people to overcome barriers to housing, employment and professional licensing, and other opportunities that are often hindered by having a criminal record, even decades after an arrest or conviction. 

“Clean Slate restores hope and enhances lives, which is a benefit to the whole community,” said Raju. “We appreciate all the support we’ve gotten for the Clean Slate program over the past 25 years. As more people become eligible for expungement, we continue to advocate for permanent and sufficient funding so that our skilled staff can continue to provide the vital, hands-on work these expungement motions require.” 

Expungement eligibility in California recently expanded under SB 731, which was signed into law in 2022 and built upon AB 1076 from 2019. Together, the bills require the creation of a comprehensive process allowing people to expunge old conviction and arrest records once a person has fully completed their sentence and successfully gone four years without further contact with the legal system. These laws also require the California Department of Justice to automatically and electronically expunge misdemeanors and some felony convictions, while people living with felony convictions that the law considers more serious have the opportunity to petition a judge to have those convictions expunged.

“The thousands of restrictions faced by Californians living with an old conviction record make it harder for these community members to rebuild productive and full lives,” said Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, whose organization advocated for the passage and implementation of SB731. “We celebrate Clean Slate’s work and look forward to continuing to tear down systems that disenfranchise and create barriers that disproportionately impact people and communities of color who deserve to thrive.” 

“When I was young, I made some wrong decisions, but I got on the right path for my children and never looked back. Even though I went back to school and have excelled in my career, my record still followed me in many ways that impacted my family. Getting a clean slate is a heavy weight to have taken off of you. When you change your life and get on the right path, you deserve a second chance,” said DiJaida Durden, who was granted a Certificate of Rehabilitation by the court with the help of the Public Defender Clean Slate team.

Millions of Californians are eligible for various types of expungement, including: certificates of rehabilitation, reduction of certain convictions, sealing records of arrests and certain convictions, and findings of factual innocence. While some records may still appear on certain kinds of background checks, having an expungement can help alleviate the harm caused by those records. 

People interested in expungement support in San Francisco can contact the Clean Slate team at San Francisco Public Defender’s Office at sfpublicdefender.org. To learn more about Californians for Safety and Justice’s TimeDone initiative, visit: timedone.org.  

##

SF Public Defender’s Office Celebrates Acquittal for Labor Trafficking Survivor

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
SF Public Defender’s Office Celebrates Acquittal for Labor Trafficking Survivor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 24, 2024

CONTACT: SF Public Defender Public Defender’s Office | PubDef-MediaRelations@sfgov.org  

**PRESS RELEASE**

SF Public Defender’s Office Celebrates Acquittal for Labor Trafficking Survivor

The Public Defender’s Office and Community Leaders Demand that the District Attorney’s Office Stop Colluding With Feds and Provide Support to Labor Trafficking Survivors

SAN FRANCISCO — Today, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office announced an unprecedented trial victory—a complete acquittal last month—for a young man who was labor trafficked and coerced to sell drugs in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. This is the first time in the Bay Area and possibly the state where a jury has fully acquitted someone of drug-related charges because the person was labor trafficked and their life and loved ones were threatened with harm. The Public Defenders’ Office unveiled the news at a press conference held jointly with the FREE SF Coalition, which has worked to uphold San Francisco’s sanctuary laws for the last 16 years.  

“Law enforcement has scapegoated immigrants for the tragic overdose crisis in our city, which is a public health crisis. This has resulted in the double victimization of many of our clients who are charged with drug-related offenses,” said elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “These are individuals whom a jury of impartial San Franciscans has now found to be not guilty of offenses they committed, and who deserve support and compassion, not cages.”

Demands

Speakers at today’s press conference affirmed the need for evidence-based, public health solutions to the substance use and overdose crisis in San Francisco—proven solutions such as overdose prevention centers, mental health and substance use treatment, stable housing, and job training and opportunities. Speakers also demanded that the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office change the way it treats survivors of labor trafficking. Their demands are:

  • That the DA’s office sign a T-Visa or U-visa crime victim certification for the acquitted client. (A T-Visa allows a person to stay in the U.S. if they were the victim of human trafficking; A U-Visa allows a person to stay if they have been the victim of certain crimes.)
  • That the DA’s office treat labor trafficking survivors the same way it treats sex trafficking survivors.
  • That the DA’s office stop colluding with federal prosecutors to keep state court juries from hearing our clients’ stories and to evade Sanctuary Law.
  • That DA Brooke Jenkins follow her oath to protect victims of crime and stop offering coercive plea deals that leave our clients open to ICE detention and deportation. 

“With this verdict of not guilty, the jury sent a resounding message to the DA that they will not allow the criminalization of labor trafficking victims,” said Deputy Public Defender Elizabeth Camacho. “They are demanding that the DA do her job and protect the people, including these people who are victims.” 

“Unfortunately we live in a reality where labor trafficking is still not well known or recognized,” said Lindsey Marum, a senior staff attorney at Justice at Last, a Bay Area law firm that serves people who have survived trafficking. “We are heartened by the jury’s validation of the survivor’s experience as a victim of labor trafficking through their verdict of ‘not guilty.’ We are encouraged and applaud the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office for helping survivors of sex and labor trafficking break free of a vicious cycle of injustice where they are criminalized for the actions they were forced to take.”

Background on the acquitted client

The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office client, 27, was acquitted of drug sales charges last month, and his name is not being revealed for his protection. When he was 8, he was forced to leave school and work to support his family, who live in poverty. (Photos of their home are here.) He cannot read or write. At 17, he was approached by a man promising well-paying construction jobs in the United States. The client went with him, with no family or friends, and then owed a coyote around $10,000. 

“Our client is a real human being who is vulnerable,” said Deputy Public Defender Kathleen Natividad, the lead defense attorney on the case. “He has been taken advantage of. Several of the jurors in this case were so moved by his testimony that they came here today to support him and to help people understand that human trafficking is real.”

The Public Defender client survived a harrowing journey on foot and catching moving freight trains from Honduras, through Guatemala and Mexico, to the United States and tried to work off the debt. He was moved to different cities by the cartel, and frequently threatened, often via text, that the cartel knew exactly who his family members were and where they lived. When he took legitimate jobs, members of the cartel would threaten him and tell him he was not paying down his debt fast enough. In San Francisco, he was arrested several times. He did not tell police he had been trafficked because in Honduras, police are often corrupt and in the pocket of cartels. In the months leading up to his trial, he realized he could potentially get out of his subjugation by testifying about what he had been through. The man’s defense team used what’s known as an “affirmative defense” under California Penal Code §236.23, which holds that a person charged with a criminal offense is not guilty if they were coerced into committing the offense as a result of being a victim of human trafficking.

The Affirmative Defense

In the last two years, the San Francisco Public Defender’s office has used this affirmative defense in seven trials on behalf of clients who have been labor trafficked and threatened with harm from cartels if they do not sell drugs. Two juries have found our clients guilty, four juries have deadlocked and hung, and now, a jury has fully acquitted a client. 

“My Not Guilty vote was based on a feeling developed through the course of the trial … that ‘a job’ at which your bosses carry guns and have threatened to kill your family is not one you can easily quit,” said Al McKee, one of the jurors in the client’s trial. “I am comfortable that our verdict achieves justice for [the client], who I firmly believe was a victim.”

“Study after study has shown that cities with larger immigration populations are safer, and that local collusion with ICE undercuts public safety,” said Deputy Public Defender Francisco Ugarte, who heads the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Immigration Unit. “And yet law enforcement has doubled down on targeting and scapegoating immigrants. The DA’s office even has a designated attorney who refers local cases to federal court. Federal agents have several times seized young mothers in the hallways of our local court as part of this scheme. San Franciscans value our Sanctuary Ordinance, which protects due process for everyone, including our immigrant neighbors. The actions of prosecutors fly in the face of these values.”

“We at Legal Services for Children have been and are working with youth who have survived perilous journeys to the U.S. to try and help their families,” said Fernando Antunez, a social worker and a member of the FREESF Coalition. “And if they make it to the Bay Area they are targeted by law enforcement for profiling, surveillance and victimization. Singling out immigrants is racist and provides a very inaccurate picture of the drug trade. In fact, nearly 9 in 10 of those convicted of trafficking fentanyl are U.S. citizens driving cars and commercial vehicles through legal ports of entry, not undocumented immigrants or asylum seekers.”

“Like all of us, migrant community members want safety, stability, and an opportunity for a better life,” said Lariza Dugan Cuadra, executive director of Central American Resource Center — CARECEN of Northern California. “Here’s how we get there: We welcome and connect people seeking refuge, we fund proven, public health solutions that break the cycle of addiction. We uphold our Sanctuary Ordinance. And as a city we uphold our commitment to protect survivors of trafficking, rather than prosecute them.”

Message from the client: Audio file can be found here. 

Transcript in Spanish: 

Hola, mi nombre es [redactado] y le quiero dar las gracias a todos los que están presentes y por enseñarme, darme su apoyo. Pero primero quiero darle las gracias a la jueza por haber escuchado mi historia y verme dejado testificar.

También quiero agradecerle de todo corazón a los miembros de jurado quienes escucharon lo que yo tenía que decir

y escucharon cuando les pedí que me ayudaran y me ayudaron. Gracias. Espero que después de hoy la fiscal de San Francisco escuche mi súplica y firme los papeles para yo obtener una visa y así puedo estar libre finalmente y obtener una manera de trabajar, de vivir libre y de cumplir el sueño de ayudar a mi familia. Gracias.

Transcript in English:

Hello, my name is [redacted] and I want to thank everyone who is present and for showing me your support.

But first, I want to thank the judge for listening to my story and allowing me to testify.

I also want to sincerely thank the jury members who listened to what I had to say and listened when I asked them to help me and they helped me.

Thanks. I hope that after today the San Francisco prosecutor listens to my plea and signs the paper so I can get a visa and finally be free and find a way to work, to live freely and to fulfill the dream of helping my family.

Thank you.

###

Watch the press conference on YouTube: SF Public Defender’s Office Celebrates Acquittal for Labor Trafficking Survivor | San Francisco Public Defender’s Office

SF Jury Acquits Man Who Acted in Self-Defense After Stranger–Unprovoked–Screamed at Him and Trespassed Into His Apartment

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
SF Jury Acquits Man Who Acted in Self-Defense After Stranger–Unprovoked–Screamed at Him and Trespassed Into His Apartment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 10, 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: Jessie Seyfer, public relations officer | (628) 271-9800 | San Francisco Public Defender’s Office | pdr-mediarelations@sfgov.org 

**PRESS RELEASE**

SF Jury Acquits Man Who Acted in Self-Defense After Stranger–Unprovoked–Screamed at Him and Trespassed Into His Apartment

Stranger also returned to his apartment building and was believed to be armed

SAN FRANCISCO — On Aug. 26, a San Francisco jury acquitted 41-year-old Kenneth Young, of all charges stemming from a 2022 incident when Young acted in self-defense by punching a man who had yelled at him, stepped into his apartment, and returned to his apartment building later in the evening. Prosecutors had charged Young with several felonies including assault.

“Mr. Young was protecting himself from a man who had trespassed into his apartment and would have attacked and seriously harmed him had Mr. Young not defended himself,” said Deputy Public Defender Bao Doan, who represented Young in the case. 

On Aug. 19, 2022, Young was inside his apartment on Turk Street when a man began shouting outside his door. When Young opened his door, a 6-foot-3-inch-tall man was standing there with his genitals exposed, and the man had just urinated. Young and the man, who did not know each other, exchanged words, and the man stepped into Young’s apartment. Young, frightened, punched the man once, pushed him out of the apartment and locked the door.

About 40 minutes later, Young and a friend decided to leave the building to walk their dog. On their way out, two separate people warned Young that a man who was possibly armed was standing in front of the building. Young, once outside, realized the man in front of the building was the same one who had stepped into his apartment. Fearing that the man had been waiting to retaliate and harm him, Young punched the man once to disarm him. Young then left the area of his apartment building and police arrested him several weeks later. Prosecutors charged him with several felonies, including assault, mayhem and battery. 

“We are so grateful to the thoughtful jurors in this case, who weighed the evidence and testimony carefully and determined that Mr. Young was acting in legitimate self-defense,” said elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “I applaud the efforts of Mr. Young’s defense team for demonstrating this truth so effectively for the jury.”

The defense team included Deputy Public Defender Doan, Investigator Collin Olsen and Paralegal Margaret So.

## 

SF Jury Acquits Father of Battery Who Asked Two People to Stop Cutting in Line at Children’s Event

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
SF Jury Acquits Father of Battery Who Asked Two People to Stop Cutting in Line at Children’s Event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 27, 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org 

**PRESS RELEASE**

SF Jury Acquits Father of Battery Who Asked Two People to Stop Cutting in Line at Children’s Event
One accuser admitted in court she and her friend made sure their stories matched before talking to police

SAN FRANCISCO – On Aug. 13, a San Francisco jury deliberated for less than 15 minutes before acquitting Marcos Ortega, 47, of two counts of misdemeanor battery. Ortega was falsely accused of pushing two women who had each, separately, cut in line in front of him and his daughters at an event for children with disabilities. 

“The jury did the right thing in acquitting Mr. Ortega, who did nothing wrong, and only verbally called out the women for cutting in line,” said Deputy Public Defender Jess McPeake, who represented Ortega in this case. “Mr. Ortega and his family were trying to have a nice day in the park, and these two women, who didn’t like being called out for cutting in line, turned it into an ordeal that resulted in police grabbing Mr. Ortega in front of his children and setting him up to face these unfounded charges.”

On June 1, Ortega and two of his young daughters were waiting in line for prizes at a community event in Golden Gate Park when two women each cut in front of them separately. Ortega verbally protested each time. The women, who were friends, then claimed that Ortega pushed them, and an event staffer called the police. Police then located Ortega and his family at the face-painting booth and physically grabbed him in front of his children. Ortega denied pushing the women, but police issued him a citation to appear in court, and prosecutors charged him with battery. 

During the trial, the jury heard testimony from Ortega and the two women. One of the women said that she and her friend were holding and switching places toward the front of several lines for their group of friends, which explained why Ortega believed that they were cutting. She also admitted that she and her friend tried to make sure their stories matched before they talked to police, even though their testimony at trial was inconsistent with the initial accusations.  Comparatively, Ortega’s testimony remained consistent that the women cutting in line repeatedly jostled him and his daughters and that it saddened him that they would do that at an event for children with disabilities. 

“A case like this highlights the importance of having public defenders who fiercely defend their clients by taking cases to trial when someone is unfairly accused of a crime, especially when prosecutors are making offers for them to plead to something they didn’t do,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “I am proud of Deputy Public Defender McPeake and the whole defense team for supporting Mr. Ortega throughout this case, and I’m grateful to the jury for returning this just verdict.”

The defense team included Deputy Public Defender McPeake, Investigator Terry Collins and Paralegal Michael Brown.

##

Successful SF ‘Be The Jury’ Program Receives $650K in State Funding 

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
Successful SF ‘Be The Jury’ Program Receives $650K in State Funding 

For Immediate Release: August 27, 2024 

Media Contact: 

SF Public Defender’s Office | PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org

SF Treasurer’s Office I Amanda Fried | amanda.fried@sfgov.org | (415) 554-0889

** PRESS RELEASE **

Successful SF ‘Be The Jury’ Program Receives $650K in State Funding 

Asm. Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) secures state funding for 2024-2025 Fiscal Year for a proven program that increases racial and economic diversity of jury pools; Be The Jury pays low- to moderate-income San Francisco jurors $100 per day. 

SAN FRANCISCO — This month, San Francisco received $650,000 in critical funding from the State of California that ensures the continuation of the city’s Be The Jury program, which increases juror pay from $15 to $100 a day for low- to moderate-income jurors. Assemblymember Phil Ting successfully championed the funding in Sacramento, and the San Francisco’s Treasurer’s Office, Public Defender’s Office, SF Bar Association, and District Attorney’s Office also advocated for it. This infusion of resources will fund San Francisco’s Be The Jury program for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. Local stakeholders will continue to advocate for permanent funding and statewide adoption of Be The Jury.

“I’m thrilled we were able to secure state funding to ensure that higher jury pay for lower-income San Franciscans can carry on for another year,” said Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), whose 2021 legislation, AB 1452, authorized the City’s Be The Jury Pilot Program. “Higher jury pay does, in fact, diversify juries. When juries are more reflective of the communities they serve, they spend more time in deliberations and are less likely to presume guilt. Multiple perspectives weighing in helps defendants get a fair trial.”

“In our country’s history, laws barred certain communities from serving on juries,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed. “Be The Jury is groundbreaking because even when those discriminatory laws changed, low-income jurors—many being Black, Asian, Latino—struggled to be able to serve because they couldn’t give up their wages. I am glad that our state legislators are partnering with our city to continue this type of smart, innovative change that will create a more equitable and fair criminal justice system.”

“No one should have to decide between making ends meet or fulfilling their civic duty,” said San Francisco Treasurer José Cisneros. “The Be The Jury program results make it clear that paying people to serve on juries is a necessary step towards upholding our constitutional right to a trial by peers. Thank you, Asm. Ting, for ensuring that this program can continue.” 

“Be The Jury helps deliver on the promise of basic fairness in our criminal legal system because it empowers community members from diverse backgrounds to apply their own life experiences when evaluating evidence and the credibility of witnesses,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “This state investment is an important step in allowing this program to continue and hopefully to grow.”  

“The Be The Jury program has empowered hundreds of low-income San Franciscans to do their civic duty, allowing individuals to administer justice for the diverse communities they represent, making the criminal justice system fairer,” said San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. “I hope that the State and City can continue to partner so that this program can continue over the long term.”  

“Potential jurors should not have to decide between serving their civic duty and having enough money to take care of their families,” said Yolanda Jackson, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Bar Association of San Francisco. “I am grateful to all our City and State partners who have made it possible to continue this program.” 

Be The Jury: A Proven Success

Since it began in March 2022, nearly 2,700 San Franciscans have participated in the Be The Jury program. This first-of-its-kind program was designed to test whether removing the financial hardship that prevents many potential jurors from serving could foster juries that reflect a more balanced cross-section of San Francisco residents. An in-depth report on the program’s first year demonstrated that the program has significantly increased economic and racial diversity in San Francisco jury pools. The Be The Jury program has received high praise from its participants, and has been featured in the documentary film “Judging Juries” as well as in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, the San Francisco Standard, and Law360. 

Jury duty is arguably one of the most meaningful opportunities for true civic engagement that our government offers. However, due to financial constraints, many prospective jurors—often those from the neighborhoods most impacted by the criminal legal system—are deprived of the opportunity to serve because they cannot afford to take time off of work or pay for child care when the standard juror pay in San Francisco is only $15 a day. This funding infusion for the Be The Jury program ensures that the city can continue to create a more fair and just criminal justice system.

The Be The Jury program compensates jurors with low-to-moderate incomes with $100 per day for jury service in criminal trials. Jurors are eligible if their household income is less than 80% of the Area Median Income ($80,700 for a single person; $115,300 for a household of four) and if they meet one of the following criteria: (1) their employer does not compensate for jury service; (2) their employer does not compensate for the estimated duration of jury service; (3) they are self-employed; or (4) they are unemployed. For more information, see here.

##

San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Responds to Today’s Case Dismissals Due to Harmful, Avoidable, Years-Long Trial Backlog

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Responds to Today’s Case Dismissals Due to Harmful, Avoidable, Years-Long Trial Backlog

SAN FRANCISCO — Today, the San Francisco Superior Court dismissed 69 misdemeanor cases against SF Public Defender clients, after an appellate court ruled last month that the Superior Court had unlawfully delayed a misdemeanor trial for over a year using COVID-19 as an excuse. The appellate court ruling had signaled that many other misdemeanor cases could also be dismissed on the same grounds. 

“The Superior Court did the right and lawful thing today—at long last—in dismissing our clients’ misdemeanor cases after unjustly depriving them of their Constitutionally-mandated right to a speedy trial,” said Deputy Public Defender Andrea Lindsay, a manager of the SF Public Defender’s Misdemeanor Unit. “These trial delays have greatly disrupted our clients’ lives and livelihoods. Many people have been subjected to prolonged pretrial conditions, like wearing electronic ankle monitors, and have been made to attend multiple court dates—requiring time off from work or school as well as childcare and transportation—only to be denied their rights and faced with more delays.” 

The SF Superior Court, while delaying these misdemeanor trials, let usable courtrooms sit empty,  prioritized civil lawsuits, and failed to pursue alternative venues. After the Superior Court reopened following COVID-19 closures in 2020, it delayed thousands of individuals’ felony and misdemeanor trials—at its peak leaving more than 240 individuals languishing in jail past their speedy trial deadline, often subjecting them to lockdown conditions that threatened their physical and mental health. The San Francisco Public Defender’s office, along with several other community organizations, challenged these delays via litigation as well as public protests. 

San Francisco prosecutors have, until recently, joined the Superior Court’s argument that COVID-19 was a viable reason to delay criminal cases months, even years, past individuals’ trial deadlines. 

“Giving people their day in court is a fundamental right that is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights for a reason,” said Mano Raju, the elected Public Defender of San Francisco. “The government, in this case, the court, has been violating the rights and liberty of individuals who are presumed innocent under the law. The court deprived our clients of their day in court, and to dismiss those cases, as other county courts have done, is the fair and appropriate legal remedy.”

For more information about the San Francisco Superior Court backlog, please visit https://sfpublicdefender.org/open-sf-courts-now.

## 

SF Jury Acquits Man Wrongly Accused of Purposely Running Over Friend’s Foot

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
SF Jury Acquits Man Wrongly Accused of Purposely Running Over Friend’s Foot

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 8, 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: Jessie Seyfer, public relations officer | (628) 271-9800 | San Francisco Public Defender’s Office | pdr-mediarelations@sfgov.org 

**PRESS RELEASE**

SF Jury Acquits Man Wrongly Accused of Purposely Running Over Friend’s Foot

SAN FRANCISCO — On July 31, a San Francisco jury acquitted Anthony Sonnier, 55, of felony assault charges stemming from a Feb. 24 incident in which Sonnier accidentally drove over another man’s foot with his car. Before last week’s acquittal, Sonnier was forced to wear an electronic monitor and to stay on home confinement for three months, which severely limited his ability to earn a living. 

“It was clear from the beginning that this was an unfortunate accident,” said Deputy Public Defender Will Helvestine, who represented Sonnier. “Mr. Sonnier was trying to get away from his severely intoxicated friend, who had just punched him. There was no need to have a costly trial in this case, nor was there a need to confine Mr. Sonnier at home for months and months. He will never get that time back.”

Sonnier and the alleged victim grew up together in San Francisco and had been friends for more than 40 years. On Feb. 24, they met to catch up and watch the Lunar New Year parade. Sonnier’s friend quickly became inebriated and belligerent, and Sonnier decided to drop him off at the 16th Street Mission BART station. Once there, the alleged victim punched Sonnier, who tried to maneuver his car to get away. In the process, Sonnier accidentally ran over the man’s foot, which prosecutors contended was on purpose. But during trial, the alleged victim took the stand and testified that Sonnier was “a good dude” who he did not believe intentionally tried to run him over. 

“In a case like this, a thoughtful evaluation should have led the prosecutor to not file charges in the first place,” said elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “This trial was not about what happened, but rather why it happened. I applaud our public defender team for showing how the why should result in an acquittal, and I applaud the jury for thoughtfully delivering their verdict of not guilty.”

The defense team on this case included Helvestine as well as Paralegal Nathan Conn and investigators Nigel Phillips and Bret Stemme. 

##

Charges Dismissed Against Black Crime Victim Who Was Wrongfully Charged and Jailed After MUNI Altercation

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
Charges Dismissed Against Black Crime Victim Who Was Wrongfully Charged and Jailed After MUNI Altercation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 6, 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: San Francisco Public Defender’s Office | pdr-mediarelations@sfgov.org 

**PRESS RELEASE**

Charges Dismissed Against Black Crime Victim Who Was Wrongfully Charged and Jailed After MUNI Altercation

(Please note photos below that corroborate our client’s account)

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco man spent two weeks in jail after being falsely accused of assault and other charges stemming from an April 16 altercation on a MUNI bus. Jerry Williams, a 53-year-old Black man, was charged with several crimes despite being the victim of crime during the incident himself. Prosecutors dropped all charges on May 24.

“My client is not only innocent, he was the victim,” said Deputy Public Defender Ilona Yañez, who represented Williams. “The fact that Mr. Williams was kept in jail for two weeks, missed classes that he’ll have to retake, and was at risk of losing his housing, is emblematic of the harms caused by police bias and prosecutors’ insistence on unnecessary pretrial detention.”

On April 16, Williams mistakenly dropped some cash on the floor of a MUNI bus while boarding, and the alleged victim, who was behind him, picked it up. Surveillance footage from the bus shows this. Williams asked the man for his money back, and the man denied taking the cash, even though other passengers can be heard on the footage telling him to give it back. The man pushed his umbrella at Williams, who stopped it with his hand as he continued to ask for his money back. The man then reached out, grabbed and scratched Williams’ face, and Williams responded with a single punch in self-defense.

Williams waited for police and gave a full and honest statement to SFPD officers. Everything he said was corroborated by the MUNI footage, which Williams begged the officers to look at. The officers did not search the alleged victim for the missing cash even though Williams had reported it. Instead, they ran a background check on Williams, found out that he was on parole, and arrested him instead of the alleged victim, who appears to be white. Prosecutors charged Williams with felony elder abuse and felony assault and insisted he remain in custody. 

Eventually, prosecutors dropped all charges against Williams, but he had to spend two weeks in jail, which has been locked down frequently because of overcrowding and COVID issues. Williams and Yañez believe that race was a factor in the officers’ decisions, as well as bias against Williams for being on parole. Williams was a model parolee who had been on parole for four years and not suffered a single violation in all that time—he has since gotten off parole successfully.

“Mr. Williams would never have gone to jail had he not been a Black man on parole,” said elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “Mr. Williams is justifiably upset that police did not believe him and that they used his parole status against him instead of actually investigating the incident to find the truth. The result was another innocent Black man in jail whose life and livelihood was disrupted because police wrongly deemed him to be the aggressor when he was actually the victim.”

Screenshots of MUNI surveillance footage are below. (Note: these images can also be found here).


Williams boards bus at 16:27:57.
Williams drops cash at 16:28:00.

Man boards bus at 16:28:01 and sees cash.
Man picks up cash at 16:28:02.

##

Detained Individuals, Immigrant Advocates Condemn ICE Ending Free Legal Phone Calls Program

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
Detained Individuals, Immigrant Advocates Condemn ICE Ending Free Legal Phone Calls Program

ICE’s action comes as people inside and outside detention protest worsening conditions at California facilities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 31, 2024
PRESS CONTACT: Jessie Seyfer, public relations officer | (628) 271-9800 | San Francisco Public Defender’s Office | pdr-mediarelations@sfgov.org  

**PRESS RELEASE**

Detained Individuals, Immigrant Advocates Condemn ICE Ending Free Legal Phone Calls Program
ICE’s action comes as people inside and outside detention protest worsening conditions at California facilities

SAN FRANCISCO — Immigrant rights advocates are decrying a decision by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—that goes into effect tomorrow, Aug. 1—to end a free phone call program that has been in effect for many years. Starting tomorrow, ICE officials have said they are cutting off detainees’ access to free calls to attorneys that had been agreed to in ICE’s settlement of a 2016 ACLU lawsuit known as Lyon v. ICE. The decision by ICE to abruptly shut down this program comes as many individuals detained at the Golden State Annex and Mesa Verde immigrant detention centers in McFarland and Bakersfield, Calif., respectively, have stepped up their protests of horrible conditions at the centers. 

“Our detained brothers and sisters are now forced to pay a predatory and high cost for phone calls,” said Jose Ruben Hernandez Gomez, who was previously detained at Mesa Verde and who launched a 21-day hunger strike in 2023 to protest conditions at the ICE facilities. Hernandez Gomez is a client of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Immigration Unit and has been a legal permanent resident of the U.S. since he was a toddler. “If it wasn’t for these free legal calls when I was in detention, I know for a fact that I would not be here. Were it not for the ability to reach attorneys, I would not have been able to challenge deportation proceedings and would have been deported to a country where I would have faced great harm and even death.”

(Note: Photos of Hernandez Gomez speaking today at a rally in support of the labor protesters can be downloaded here.)

On July 1, 59 detained individuals at the Golden State Annex relaunched a work stoppage to protest stolen wages, termination of the free phone calls, worsening living and working conditions, ongoing retaliation and prolonged detention at the facilities. Detained workers at these for-profit facilities are paid just $1 a day to maintain the facility while they are frequently given spoiled food and deprived of hygiene products, sanitary conditions and basic medical care.

For almost a decade, noncitizens detained by ICE in California’s Central Valley have been able to call their pro bono attorneys for free. This fundamental right—the ability to consult with an attorney from a remote detention center regardless of your financial resources—was hard fought and hard won. The Lyon v. ICE case, filed by the ACLU on behalf of California ICE detainees, alleged that ICE’s restrictive phone access policies violated federal law and the U.S. Constitution. ICE settled the case and established a straightforward system to allow pro bono attorneys—defined as any attorney who undertakes pro bono work as part of their practice—to request a direct-dial “pin” (called a “Lyon pin”) from ICE. Clients and prospective clients could then call pro bono attorneys directly without incurring a charge. In 2020, ICE supplemented the free calls available through Lyon pins with a COVID-era program allotting people in custody nationwide 520 minutes of free phone calls to any recipient, including attorneys (the 520 Free Minute Program). Attorneys could register to ensure that calls to them through the 520 Free Minute program were unmonitored. Now ICE is severing that lifeline, ending the Lyon calls. It also ended the 520 Free Minute Program in June. 

“Before our lawsuit secured free legal phone calls for immigrants in ICE detention facilities, it was practically impossible for people to consult with an attorney or gather evidence to support their cases, including asylum claims,” said Bree Bernwanger, an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California. “We’re shocked that ICE would abruptly cut off free legal calls without explaining how it will meet its constitutional obligations to provide detained immigrants with access to counsel.”

“ICE locks people away in civil detention facilities, where people experience abuse and neglect. It obstructs people’s attempts to seek release from their unjustified civil detention. ICE allows private prison contractors to force detained people to work for $1 per day. And now, ICE is cutting the free lines between detained people who seek help from pro bono attorneys to do something about their inhumane conditions,” said Victoria Petty, staff attorney, Immigration Justice at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF). “Detained people have the right to speak up, including through counsel.”

“Confidential, free phone calls are a lifeline for immigrants in detention,” said Lisa Knox, co-executive director with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. “They are one of the few ways they can access legal services and share information about the human rights violations rampant in detention, without fear of retaliation.”

ICE has told advocates that only calls to a limited list of legal service providers who have been approved by the immigration court will be free. But the list of approved providers excludes a vast range of necessary pro bono legal services from eligibility. For instance, providers on the list must offer legal advice related to deportation proceedings, but LCCRSF does not provide such services. Instead, LCCRSF advises and represents detained individuals in cases challenging their detention by ICE as well as the conditions in the detention facilities. Even those who might qualify must submit an application, face a months-long waiting period, and undergo a notice and comment process, before being added. 

“ICE’s purposeful erosion of detained individuals’ fundamental and Constitutional rights is shameful,” said elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “We will continue to challenge injustices like these and we remain inspired by the many individuals inside and outside detention who fight for immigrants’ human rights.”

Jose Ruben Hernandez Gomez speaking today at a rally in support of labor protesters in ICE detention. Photo courtesy LCCRSF.

 ##

Community Leaders Demand San Francisco Fill 700+ Empty Homes Instead of Displacing or Jailing Unhoused People

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
Community Leaders Demand San Francisco Fill 700+ Empty Homes Instead of Displacing or Jailing Unhoused People

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 30, 2024
CONTACT: S.F. Public Defender’s Office | PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org

**PRESS RELEASE**

SAN FRANCISCO — Today, San Francisco community leaders held a press conference to denounce recent measures targeting the unhoused individuals. Speakers called for real and sustainable solutions to homelessness, emphasizing that criminalization is neither an effective nor humane approach. They demanded that San Francisco take immediate action to fill the more than 700+ vacant living spaces it controls in the city.

Today’s action came in response to Mayor London Breed’s announcement authorizing “aggressive” homeless camp sweeps and the criminal prosecution of unhoused individuals, as well as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order directing cities to clear homeless encampments.

“Mayor Breed’s recent remarks about aggressively conducting homelessness sweeps and criminally charging the homeless were not only inhumane but counterproductive,”  said Julia Arroyo, executive director of Young Women’s Freedom Center. “Criminalizing homelessness only exacerbates the problem and fails to address the root causes. These actions are a violation of basic human rights. Sweeps displace individuals without providing any sustainable solutions, leading to further instability, trauma, and often death.”

The event took place outside the Hotel Whitcomb in San Francisco, where 459 potential rooms for the unhoused sit unoccupied. Leaders from various community organizations addressed the many harmful impacts of current policies and proposed comprehensive strategies to tackle the root causes of homelessness.

“To end homelessness, elected officials must fill vacant units, expand all types of housing—acquisitions, rental assistance, and new construction,”  said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco. “They must provide rent relief to help people remain in their homes, and strengthen eviction protections. And yes, we also need more shelter—but shelter is only efficient if that expensive cost is sandwiched between prevention and housing, so stays in shelter are short and brief, and so many folks can avoid shelter altogether.”

Community leaders emphasized that rather than implementing punitive measures, the city should invest in affordable housing. Creating more housing units and ensuring they are accessible to low-income individuals and families is a fundamental step towards reducing homelessness. Leaders stressed that filling the currently vacant houses would provide immediate relief and stability for many.

“We will continue to demand that the government end its abuse of our unhoused neighbors,” said John Do, senior attorney for the Racial & Economic Justice Program at the ACLU of Northern California. “Everyone has the right to have personal property, and the government cannot seize or destroy personal belongings—whether survival gear, medication, personal IDs, work equipment, or sentimental family mementos. Gov. Newsom has endorsed Caltrans as a model for clearing encampments. This is concerning as Caltrans has a troubling history of destroying people’s belongings, a practice that led to a $1.3 million settlement with the ACLU and the Lawyers Committee [for Civil Rights]. We’ve fought—and won—this battle before, and we will do so again.”

Speakers at the event emphasized the urgent need for compassionate solutions to homelessness in San Francisco. They called for community-based solutions that involve input from those experiencing homelessness and engage the community to ensure that solutions are tailored to the actual needs of the homeless population.

“We cannot arrest our way out of the homelessness crisis, which is primarily caused by economic hardship and high housing costs,” said District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston. “We must urgently house people with the support they need, scaling up programs like Street-to-Home to fill vacant supportive housing units and meet people’s immediate need for housing.”

Community leaders called on Mayor Breed and the city administration to be transparent about their plans and to involve community organizations in the decision-making process. They expressed a strong belief that through collaboration and a commitment to human rights, San Francisco can create an environment where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Among the many organizations involved in this action were The Worker Agency, Young Women’s Freedom Center, the Coalition on Homelessness, the ACLU of Northern California, and the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office.

SF Coalition to End Biased Stops Celebrates ‘Pretext’ Stop Policy Going into Effect, Releases ‘Know Your Rights’ Guide 

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
SF Coalition to End Biased Stops Celebrates ‘Pretext’ Stop Policy Going into Effect, Releases ‘Know Your Rights’ Guide 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 16, 2024

CONTACT: S.F. Public Defender’s Office | PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org

**PRESS RELEASE**

SF Coalition to End Biased Stops Celebrates ‘Pretext’ Stop Policy Going into Effect, Releases ‘Know Your Rights’ Guide 

SAN FRANCISCO — The Coalition to End Biased Stops—which includes over 110 traffic safety and civil rights groups that advocated for restricting the San Francisco Police Department’s use of racially-biased pretext traffic stops—is celebrating that a new ‘pretext stop’ policy will be in effect tomorrow. The Coalition also released a Know Your Rights guide today to inform the public of the new policy. The guide is now available in English on the websites of the Coalition and the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, and translated versions are forthcoming. A PDF version of the Know Your Rights guide is available for download via this link to the press release online.

Background

The San Francisco Police Commission, the independent oversight committee that sets policy and adjudicates misconduct matters for the San Francisco Police Department, voted in spring 2024 to adopt this new policy and gave SFPD 90 days to implement it. The Commission conducted extensive community outreach—including working groups with officers and community members, town halls, and officer-only meetings—and coordinated with SFPD leadership. The new policy limits when police can use certain traffic violations as the primary reason to conduct a stop, citing extensive data showing that these types of stops are often used as a “pretext” to conduct baseless searches.  

Pretext stops disproportionately impact Black drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, who are more often targeted for non-moving or equipment violations. Pretext stops impose substantial fiscal and societal costs, but produce little, if any, public safety benefits. San Francisco mirrors the state and nation in over-policing communities of color via pretext stops, which often do not result in an actual traffic citation, but can escalate to police use-of-force and even deadly outcomes.  

Quotes from the Coalition

“The primary goal of this policy has always been to keep people safe when they’re pulled over by police, which is vastly more dangerous for a person of color in San Francisco,” said Brian Cox, Deputy Public Defender and Director of the S.F. Public Defender Integrity Unit. “As advocates, it’s important for us to make sure that people know their rights and have the tools necessary to safely assert them.”

“This policy will help prevent police from needlessly stopping people under the guise of traffic enforcement. This is not only a discriminatory tactic that has disproportionately targeted People of Color, it’s dangerous. Time and time again Black and Brown people have been killed when these totally unnecessary encounters have escalated,” said Yoel Haile, director of the Criminal Justice Program at the ACLU of Northern California.

“For too long, SFPD has disproportionately targeted and harmed people of color via pretext stops. That ends now. We will monitor the implementation of this policy by the SFPD and are prepared to take further action to ensure that racially-biased traffic stops never happen again in our city,” said Alison Goh, President of the League of Women Voters of San Francisco.

“GLIDE has long stood in solidarity with our clients who have been unfairly targeted by police and against the bias that motivates this type of racial profiling. This policy goes a long way toward ensuring that our clients—and all San Franciscans—are treated with respect and dignity. It is vital that accessible information gets out to the community, especially communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted, so they know their rights,” said Eleana Binder, Center for Social Justice Policy Manager for GLIDE.

“This policy is a crucial step in reaffirming that police powers must have clear boundaries. Without such limits, our constitutional and civil rights are jeopardized. By reinforcing civilian oversight of law enforcement, this policy aims to reduce racial disparities in traffic stops and ensure fairer treatment for all,” said Sameena Usman, Senior Government Relations Coordinator for Secure Justice.

“The data is clear: pretext stops have been an unmitigated failure. They are a massive waste of resources that do not result in arrests or discovery of contraband. This policy will allow us to reinvest our resources into strategies that actually keep us safe,” said Police Commission Vice President Max Carter-Oberstone.

“Pretext stops are racist, and I am heartened that the Police Commission has finally taken action to end this practice. Too many people of color have been harassed for too long with devastating consequences. No more,” said Paul Briley, Executive Director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.

##

Here is the Coalition’s ‘Know Your Rights’ brochure available to download:

SF-Pretext-Stops-Know-Your-Rights-BrochureDownload

State Appellate Court Orders SF Superior Court to Dismiss Misdemeanor Case Due to Unlawful Trial Backlog

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
State Appellate Court Orders SF Superior Court to Dismiss Misdemeanor Case Due to Unlawful Trial Backlog
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 16, 2024
PRESS CONTACT: San Francisco Public Defender’s Office | pdr-mediarelations@sfgov.org  

**PRESS RELEASE**

State Appellate Court Orders SF Superior Court to Dismiss Misdemeanor Case Due to Unlawful Trial Backlog
First Appellate Court decision opens door for dismissal of more than a hundred cases whose trials were unconstitutionally delayed months, years past mandated deadlines

SAN FRANCISCO — A state appellate court has found that the San Francisco Superior Court unlawfully delayed a misdemeanor trial for over a year using COVID-19 as an excuse, despite the fact that all pandemic-related emergency orders had long been lifted. The First Appellate District opinion, issued Monday, held that the Superior Court had gone “beyond its proper judicial role” and had “stepped into the shoes of the prosecution,” and ordered it to dismiss the case. The decision could lead to more than a hundred other cases being dismissed, and could also lead to reversals on appeal for defendants who were convicted after being deprived of their right to a speedy trial.

“The Superior Court’s use of COVID-19 as a reason to endlessly delay trials has always been unjust and harmful,” said Deputy Public Defender Oliver Kroll, who has worked on numerous petitions challenging the Superior Court’s trial backlog. “The Court let usable courtrooms sit empty and prioritized civil lawsuits while our clients waited in jail with charges hanging over their heads. After four years, we’re thankful that common sense has finally prevailed.”

The appellate court noted that it would “take the unusual step” of issuing Monday’s ruling as a “published” version because it wanted to create “binding precedent” that the Superior Court would be obliged to follow in potentially more than a hundred similar cases. Since the Superior Court reopened following COVID-19 closures in 2020, it delayed thousands of individuals’ trials, at its peak leaving more than 240 individuals languishing in jail past their speedy trial deadline in near-lockdown conditions. The San Francisco Public Defender’s office, along with several other community organizations, challenged these delays via litigation as well as public protests. 

Prosecutors have, until recently, joined the Superior Court’s argument that COVID-19 was a viable reason to delay criminal cases months, even years, past individuals’ trial deadlines. Now, the appellate court noted this week, prosecutors “not only failed to satisfy their burden to demonstrate good cause for delay but actually concede there was no good cause.”

For more information about the San Francisco Superior Court backlog, please visit https://sfpublicdefender.org/open-sf-courts-now.

##

COVID-19 – San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Responds

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
COVID-19 – San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Responds

In response to the serious public health concerns related to the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), our office has been leading the way in advocating for the health and safety of those who come into contact with the criminal legal system and who may be incarcerated in local jails, juvenile detention, immigration detention, and prisons. We will continue to post more updates here in the days ahead.

Daily Updates:

3/17/2020: For those with loved ones in California State Prisons: CDCR’s telephone network provider Global Tel Link (GTL) has offered the adult incarcerated population free phone calls from 12:30 a.m. Thursday, March 19, through 11:30 p.m. Thursday, March 26.

3/18/2020: Juvenile Probation announced that videoconferencing will replace face-to-face visits with parents/guardians.

3/19/2020: SF Public Defender Mano Raju issued a statement and sent a letter to ICE calling on the release of immigrants detained in Yuba County Jail and Mesa Verde Detention Center. See letter below.

3/20/2020: Twenty-six people were released from county jail. The SF Public Defender’s Office advocated for their release as they all had fewer than 60 days remaining in their sentence.

3/23/2020: Eight more people were released from county jail. The SF Public Defender’s Office advocated for their release as they all had fewer than 60 days remaining in their sentence.

3/24/2020: The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, along with the ALCU Northern California, ACLU Southern California, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, and Lakin & Wille LLP, sued ICE on behalf of 13 medically-vulnerable people who are being held in immigration detention in Yuba County Jail and Mesa Verde Detention Center. The plaintiffs are suing for their release during this public health crisis.

3/30/2020: SF County jail population is down 25% this month. Public Defenders have been filing release motions and coordinating release plans to present to the DA & the Courts in the ongoing effort to reduce jail populations in the midst of the coronavirus.

4/14/2020: Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer introduced legislation to close County Jail #4 at the Hall of Justice by November 1, 2020.

4/14/2020: The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to secure 8,250 hotel rooms for the homeless, including a provision to include people who are exiting jail and are homeless.

4/16/2020: First Confirmed Case of Coronavirus in an SF Jail

4/23/2020: SF County Jail population = 701. That’s a 38% reduction since March 2nd.

Please also follow us on social media: Twitter @ManoRajuPD & @sfdefender and Facebook @Mano Raju & @San Francisco Public Defender’s Office

Letters to Justice Partners:

Letter to SF Sheriff Paul Miyamoto from SF Public Defender Mano Raju – March 9, 2020

Letter-to-Sheriff-Paul-Miyamoto-Concerning-COVID-19-Infection-in-JailDownload

Letter to SF Sheriff Paul Miyamoto from SF Public Defender Mano Raju – March 10, 2020

Letter-to-Sheriff-Paul-Miyamoto-2-Concerning-COVID-19Download

Letter to SFPD Chief Bill Scott from SF Public Defender Mano Raju – March 11, 2020

Letter-to-Chief-Scott-re-COVIDID19-031120Download

Joint Letter to David Jennings at I.C.E. Northern California from SF Public Defender Mano Raju & Alameda Public Defender Brendon Woods – March 12, 2020 [NOTE: The original letter was updated only to correct a minor typo.]

Letter-to-David-Jennings-re-COVID-19-originalDownload
Letter-to-David-Jennings-re-COVID-19-correctedDownload

Letter to SF Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Katherine Miller from SF Public Defender Mano Raju – March 13, 2020

Letter-from-Public-Defender-Raju-to-Juvenile-Probation-Chief-Miller-re-COVID-19-1Download

Letter to David Jennings at I.C.E. Northern California from SF Public Defender Mano Raju – Calling for the Release of Immigrants in Yuba County Jail & Mesa Verde Detention Center – March 19, 2020

2020.03.19_Public-Defender-Mano-Raju-letter-to-ICE-Field-Office-Director-David-Jennings-calling-for-release-of-immigrant-detainees2-1Download

Letter to Sheriff Miyamoto from SF Public Defender Mano Raju – Urging Further Action to Reduce Jail Populations and Ensure Safety& Hygiene in Jails & Courts – March 20,2020

3.20.20-Letter-from-Public-Defender-Raju-to-Sheriff-Miyamoto-re-COVID-19Download

Letter to Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Katherine Miller from SF Public Defender Mano Raju – Calling for the Release of All Children at Juvenile Hall – March 23, 2020

Public-Defender-Raju-Letter-to-Chief-Miller-3.23.2020Download

Joint Letter to Governor Gavin Newsom from SF Public Defender Mano Raju and SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin – Offering Support & Expertise for Safely Reducing Prison Populations Statewide – March 27, 2020

SF-Public-Defender-District-Attorney-Joint-Letter-to-Governor-Newsom-3.27.20Download

Letter to the California Supreme Court’s Judicial Council from the California Public Defender’s Association – March 27, 2020

CPDA-Judicial-Council-letter-3-27-20Download

Letter to Sheriff Paul Miyamoto on the Ongoing Public Health Crisis Measures in SF County Jails & April 14th Bulletin from the California Attorney General Regarding the Sheriff’s Authority During COVID-19 – April 29, 2020

4.29.20-Letter-from-Public-Defender-Raju-to-Sheriff-Miyamoto-re-COVID19Download
AG-GC-8658-Info-BulletinDownload

SF Public Defender’s Office in the News: click on titles to be redirected to the articles.

Public defender calls for measures to prevent a coronavirus outbreak in jail – By Michael Barba – SF Examiner – March 9, 2020

Release some inmates to ease coronavirus threat in jail, California official says – By Don Sweeny – Sacramento Bee – March 11, 2020

San Francisco Officials Push to Reduce Jail Population to Prevent Coronavirus Outbreak – By Darwin BondGraham – The Appeal – March 11, 2020

Coronavirus fears prompt call for SF police to halt arrests in non-violent cases – By Michael Barba – SF Examiner – March 12, 2020

S.F. Police Should Curb Enforcement as Coronavirus Spreads, Public Defender Argues – By Sam Lew – San Francisco Public Press – March 13, 2020

Slowing Coronavirus Spread in the Jails – By Tim Redmond – 48 Hills – March 14, 2020

Calls Mount for Release of Vulnerable Prisoners as Justice System Struggles to Respond to Coronavirus – By Marissa Lagos – KQED – March 16, 2020

San Francisco Public Defender Seeks ‘Immediate Release’ Of Some Jail Inmates Due To Coronavirus – By Jeffrey Cawood – The Daily Wire – March 16, 2020

Youth in detention should be released to reduce coronavirus risk, advocates say – By Leila Miller – The L.A. Times – March 18, 2020

What sheriffs can do to slow the coronavirus outbreak – By Jessica Pishko – The Appeal – March 18, 2020

Resources strained, some police departments are changing their response to low-level crime – By Hannah Knowles – The Washington Post – March 18, 2020 1:47pm (no direct link; scroll down)

Coronavirus: San Francisco, Contra Costa prosecutors join national call for jail releases – By Megan Cassidy – SF Chronicle – March 18,2020

SF moves to release inmates fearing coronavirus outbreak behind bars – By Michael Barba – SF Examiner – March 19, 2020

SF’s Jailed Children Barred from In-Person Visits – By Sam Lew – San Francisco Public Press – March 20, 2020

Coronavirus Transforming Jails Across the Country – By Abbie Van Sickle, Cary Aspinwall, Keri Blakinger, Christie Thompson – The Marshall Project – March 21, 2020

SF Public Defender Mano Raju on Crosscurrents – With Holly McDede – KALW 91.7FM – March 23, 2020

SF Public Defender Mano Rajo on UpFront – With Cat Brooks & Brian Edward-Tiekert – KPFA 94.1FM – March 23, 2020 (Time stamp: 1:16:00)

Detained immigrants sue ICE, say they can’t social distance in jail and fear severe coronavirus illness – By Lauren Hernandez – SF Chronicle – March 25, 2020

As Coronavirus Surges, Crime Declines in Some Cities – By Simone Weichselbaum & Weihua Li – The Marshall Project – March 27, 2020

This American Life – “The Test – Act Three: Outbreak Breakout” – The story of Terry, the first person our office filed an emergency release motion for due to his high risk for coronavirus. It was granted. – Produced by Sean Cole / Host Ira Glass – March 29,2020

In COVID crisis, judges decide to keep more people in jail – By Tim Redmond – 48 Hills – March 29, 2020

Detention Into Death Sentence – A Video Featuring Our Client & Others Revealing Conditions Inside Immigration Detention in California – Produced by the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity – March 31, 2020

SF District Attorney and Public Defender Unite to Release Incarcerated People Amidst COVID-19 – By Lea Barrios – The Davis Vanguard – April 1, 2020

SF Public Defender Calls for the Release of Eligible Youth in Juvenile Detention Facilities – By Julietta Bisharyan – The Davis Vanguard – April 2, 2020

Trial by video conference? Not yet, but coronavirus forces Bay Area courts to embrace more virtual proceedings – By Bob Egelko – The San Francisco Chronicle – April 5, 2020

California Court Leaders Approve $0 bail for low level suspects. Will it be signed? – By Darrell Smith – The Sacramento Bee – April 6, 2020

Philadelphia District Attorney and Public Defender’s Offices Work toward Reducing Population of Incarcerated – By Lea Barrios – The Davis Vanguard – April 6, 2020

New Tactic Against Coronavirus: Hotels For Homeless Exiting Jails – By Abbie Van Sickle – The Marshall Project – April 6, 2020

Judge Orders ICE to Release 4 Medically Vulnerable Immigrants From Detention Facilities – By Julia Cheever – Bay City News / SF Gate – April 9, 2020

‘Important Step’ as Federal Judge Orders ICE to Release Detained Immigrants at Heightened Risk for COVID-19 – By Jessica Corbett – Common Dreams – April 9, 2020

Judge orders 4 released from ICE detention due to coronavirus fears – By Bob Egelko – The San Francisco Chronicle – April 10, 2020

SF Public Defender Calls Zero Bail a Critical Tool to Prevent Spread of COVID-19 in Jails – The Davis Vanguard – April 14, 2020

Fewer introduces legislation to speed up closure of Hall of Justice jail – By Michael Barba – SF Examiner – April 14, 2020

S.F. must lease 8,250 hotel rooms for homeless, frontline workers under emergency ordinance – By Trisha Thadani – The San Francisco Chronicle – April 14, 2020

Jails and Prisons Spring Thousands to Prevent Coronavirus Outbreaks – By Mark Kreidler – Kaiser Health News – April 16, 2020

Attorneys Fight For Detained Immigrants During Pandemic: An Interview with Managing Attorney of our Immigration Unit, Francisco Ugarte – Be Holly McDede – Crosscurrents on KALW 91.7FM – April 16, 2020

Coronavirus Pandemic: Inmate at San Francisco Jail Tests Positive – CBS – April 16, 2020

‘How Do I Defender People Now?’ – Featuring a piece by SF Deputy Public Defender Eric Quandt “Why did it take COVID-19 to convince the state that my client is a human being?”– The Marshall Project – April 17, 2020

SF public defender, ACLU sue ICE to demand release of hundreds of detainees – By Tatiana Sanchez – April 21,2020

Press Conference 4.21.2020 – Detained Immigrants File Class Action Lawsuit Against ICE in Pandemic – Hosted by the SF Public Defender’s Office – April 21, 2020

Lawsuit seeks to reduce ICE detention during pandemic – By Tim Redmond – 48 Hills

Trans asylum seeker still in custody – By John Ferrannini – Bay Area Reporter – April 21, 2020

SF Public Defender Sues for Release of ICE Detainees to Reduce Crowding – By Tyche Hendricks – KQED – April 22, 2020

Released From ICE Detention Into a Pandemic: For One Woman, Returning Home Is Complex – By Michelle Wiley – April 28, 2020

S.F. Public Defender’s MAGIC Program Hosted its “Summer Kickoff” Bringing Together Youth for Fun, Learning, and Friendship

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
S.F. Public Defender’s MAGIC Program Hosted its “Summer Kickoff” Bringing Together Youth for Fun, Learning, and Friendship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 18, 2025

MEDIA CONTACT: PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org

**PRESS RELEASE**

S.F. Public Defender’s MAGIC Program Hosted its “Summer Kickoff”

Bringing Together Youth for Fun, Learning, and Friendship

SAN FRANCISCO – Today, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office’s MAGIC program hosted its annual Summer Kickoff for local youth summer camps from the Fillmore, Western Addition, and the Tenderloin. Hundreds of campers gathered on the steps of City Hall for welcoming remarks from city officials before enjoying an afternoon of fun, food, and learning activities in Civic Center Plaza. The kickoff marks the first of many weekly events where Mo’MAGIC, located in the Fillmore, will bring together neighborhood camp participants to enhance their summer experiences, build friendships, and keep learning throughout the summer. Speakers included MAGIC’s Executive Director Brittany Ford, Public Defender Mano Raju, and District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood.

“Summer Kickoff is always an exciting day for the youth in our neighborhood,” said Brittany Ford, Executive Director of MAGIC. “It’s all about creating safe spaces for kids to build friendships, keep learning throughout the summer, and most importantly, have fun.” 

“Our Public Defender MAGIC teams are committed to showing up for our youth and families 

year round to make sure that they have what they need to excel and thrive,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “Kicking off summer by bringing so many people together is what helps build and strengthen positive community bonds.” 

“Mo’MAGIC celebrates the vibrant diversity of our District 5 communities and sparks joy for our youth,” said San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood. “I’m grateful to all those who have come together to create educational and recreational opportunities that help keep our kids learning and active throughout the summer.”

“Our young people will drive San Francisco’s future—and we’re making sure they have the support to grow and thrive,” said Mayor Daniel Lurie. “Programs like MAGIC bring communities together and create positive, vibrant spaces for the next generation. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone helping make this summer one to remember for youth in the Fillmore and across San Francisco.”

“Summer is such an important time to make sure that kids are engaged in activities that support their mental, physical, and emotional growth so that they don’t fall behind in school or risk getting pulled in negative directions,” said San Francisco District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton. “Programs like MAGIC provide a safe, nurturing space where young people can explore their talents, build confidence, and connect with positive role models in their community. These opportunities are critical, especially in neighborhoods like District 10, where families are working hard to give their children the best future possible.”

“DCYF is committed to keeping children and youth safe, healthy, and engaged throughout the summer, so they’re ready to succeed in the next school year and beyond,” said Sherrice Dorsey, Interim Executive Director of the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families (DCYF), which funds many of the City’s summer programs.

“I like the summer and the Summer Kickoff because I get to have fun with my friends and try new things. My favorite part of today is the jumpy houses and the food,” said Nyete, a rising 5th grader at Cobb Elementary.

The Summer Kickoff is the first of several weekly convenings of local camps that Mo’MAGIC will host throughout the summer at the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. They will culminate in a Youth Talent Showcase in July and a field trip to Great America in August. 

MAGIC Background 

The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office founded the MAGIC program (Mobilization for Adolescent Growth In Our Communities) in 2004 in collaboration with community-based organizations in the Bayview. MAGIC was conceived out of the need to address the impact of trauma, poverty, and violence on youth in that district and to close the school-to-prison pipeline. The goal was to improve the quality and access to community resources for youth and families through better collaboration and information-sharing. 

MAGIC expanded from the Bayview (BMAGIC) to the Fillmore in 2006 and opened the Mo’MAGIC office housed at the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center. The MAGIC programs were consolidated in 2022 as BMo’MAGIC with Brittany Ford as the Executive Director. 

MAGIC continues to act as a community convener, hosting monthly meetings in their respective neighborhoods and publishing resource guides and weekly community calendars for the Bayview and the Fillmore. The MAGIC programs will also host their annual Backpack Giveaways in August to make sure students and families have what they need to start off the school year strong.

S.F. Man Shot by Police with Projectiles from a ‘Modified Grenade Launcher’ Acquitted of Felony Charges

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
S.F. Man Shot by Police with Projectiles from a ‘Modified Grenade Launcher’ Acquitted of Felony Charges

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 3, 2025

MEDIA CONTACT: PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org 

**PRESS RELEASE**

S.F. Man Shot by Police with Projectiles from a ‘Modified Grenade Launcher’ Acquitted of Felony Charges

SAN FRANCISCO —  A San Francisco jury has acquitted Bryan Soper, 50, of felony charges that stemmed from SFPD officers’ rush to use force on him. 

On July 23, 2022, SFPD responded to a call claiming that Soper had been banging on a neighbor’s door. Within 10 seconds of police encountering Soper, they shot him with projectiles from what they described as a “modified grenade launcher,” otherwise called an extended range impact weapon (ERIW). In an attempt to defend himself, Soper threw a small glass jar at officers after he was shot. The jar did not hit any officers. Police shot Soper four more times before an officer arrived who had received extensive training in de-escalation techniques. Soper immediately cooperated with the officer’s de-escalation techniques and was hospitalized for the injuries he suffered from the ERIW. Prosecutors then charged him with false imprisonment and assault on an officer with a deadly weapon. A jury acquitted him of all felony charges on May 1.

“The only person who was injured here was Mr. Soper. This situation illustrates the danger of having overly armed and under-trained police officers who are willing to injure or kill a person in an instant, instead of first responders with the skills and mindset to de-escalate,” said Deputy Public Defender Sierra Villaran. “At trial, an SFPD sergeant testified that he would have been willing to use his firearm to shoot Mr. Soper, which jurors said was concerning to hear.” 

Villaran argued at trial that police had used excessive force and that Soper had not imprisoned or prevented anyone from leaving their apartment. Soper only threw a glass jar in the officers’ direction in self-defense after being shot with the ERIW. 

The jury acquitted Soper of felony false imprisonment and of assault on a police officer and found him guilty of misdemeanor charges of vandalism—for damaging a doorknob—and for resisting arrest. Soper was sentenced on May 8 to probation. 

“Cases like Mr. Soper’s illustrate that when police inflame situations that call for de-escalation, and when prosecutors overcharge cases as felonies, it needlessly consumes huge amounts of public resources,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. 

The Public Defender’s Office is currently facing extremely high caseloads, forcing it to cut back on the number of new cases attorneys can take on. 

“I am proud of our public defenders and thankful to the jurors who carefully weighed the evidence in this case,” Raju added. “Public defenders continue to be on the front lines protecting our Constitutional rights, which is all the more relevant now given the attacks on due process that we are seeing at the highest levels of government.”   

The defense team was led by Deputy Public Defender Sierra Villaran, Investigator Jesse Huber, and Paralegal Sercan Ersoy.

##

Misunderstanding Led to Hate Crime Charges, Case Dismissed After Jury Hangs

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
Misunderstanding Led to Hate Crime Charges, Case Dismissed After Jury Hangs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 2025

MEDIA CONTACT: PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org

**PRESS RELEASE**

Misunderstanding Led to Hate Crime Charges, Case Dismissed After Jury Hangs

SAN FRANCISCO — Charges have been dismissed against Irvin Alberto Lara-Rivera after a San Francisco jury hung heavily in favor of acquitting him of two felonies that carried hate crime allegations. Deputy Public Defender Deborah Awolope defended Lara-Rivera, who denied using a racial slur against a local celebrity chef outside a bar in the Financial District on September 1, 2024. The misunderstanding led to an altercation that resulted in Lara-Rivera defending himself against a physical attack. A week after the jury hung, prosecutors dismissed the case. 

“This whole thing began with a misunderstanding, but it resulted in Mr. Lara-Rivera spending months in jail before being strongly vindicated at trial,” said Awolope. “As a Black woman, I understand the reactions it can stir when you think that someone has used a racial slur, but that is not what happened in this case.”

On the evening of Sept. 24, 2024, Lara-Rivera was walking his dog on California Street when he passed a woman who was talking loudly on her phone outside a bar. When Lara-Rivera called to his dog, she mistakenly thought he’d called her the N-word. She quickly pursued and confronted Lara-Rivera, who pushed her away. She responded by throwing her phone at Lara-Rivera’s head and charging at him as he was entering a convenience store. Inside the store, she grabbed and hit him several times, and someone else pepper-sprayed him. Lara-Rivera ended up hitting her in self-defense.

There was extensive news coverage of the incident, some of which showed video footage from inside the store. Headlines and stories reflected community outrage over what was thought to be a racially-charged hate crime. However, further investigation revealed that the initial reports of what happened outside the store were inaccurate. 

“We so often hear accusations in the news before they can be properly vetted through further investigation, which is why it’s important for us to clear the names of the people we represent when the outcomes of their cases reveal otherwise,” said Public Defender Mano Raju. “Public defenders are acutely attuned to explicit and implicit racism, and I empathize with the community distress that arose from the initial accusations in this case. This is also why it’s so important for public defenders to be able to present the fuller picture to jurors who are empowered to prevent unjust convictions, as they did here.”  

The jury hung, voting 11-1 to acquit Lara-Rivera of felony assault and 9-3 to acquit him of felony battery. The jury did not have to return a verdict on the hate crime allegations that were attached to those charges. All charges have now been dismissed. 

The defense team for Lara-Rivera included Deputy Public Defender Deborah Awolope, Investigator Zaki Shaheen, and Paralegal Madison Matthies.

##

SF Public Defenders Win First Racial Justice Act Motion in San Francisco

Office of the Public Defender
-
0
SF Public Defenders Win First Racial Justice Act Motion in San Francisco

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 11, 2025

MEDIA CONTACT: PDR-MediaRelations@sfgov.org 

**PRESS RELEASE**

SF Public Defenders Win First Racial Justice Act Motion in San Francisco

Judge grants motion finding implicit bias with police officer’s testimony

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco Public Defenders have won the first California Racial Justice Act (RJA) motion in San Francisco since the law was enacted in 2021. An RJA hearing for a young Black man revealed that a police officer exhibited implicit bias during the man’s arrest and during trial testimony. This led the judge to reduce certain felony convictions to misdemeanors as a remedy for that discrimination, as provided under the RJA.    

The California Racial Justice Act states that, “Implicit bias, although often unintentional and unconscious, may inject racism and unfairness into proceedings similar to intentional bias. The intent of the Legislature is not to punish this type of bias, but rather to remedy the harm to the defendant’s case and to the integrity of the judicial system.” 

“Implicit bias plays a huge role in our legal system—from police to prosecutors to judges—and has historically resulted in the over-policing, over-charging, and over-sentencing of people of color,” said Deputy Public Defender Diamond Ward, who represented Adonte Bailey, who was granted relief under the RJA. 

Bailey, a 22-year-old Black man, was on trial for an incident involving a report of someone holding a gun while standing on the street. Evidence at trial showed that when police eventually arrested Bailey, the officer said on body-worn camera that he was “a little surprised he didn’t run.” When the officer later testified at trial, he painted an untrue picture of Bailey as acting evasive—telling the jury that Bailey was “ducking” and “bobbing” and had “darted”—which was contradicted by video footage of Bailey being cooperative and by other witnesses’ testimony. The officer also ignored the court’s orders and made unsolicited statements that he had been notified were inadmissible in front of the jury. 

Bailey’s attorneys filed a motion arguing that the arresting officer violated the RJA by his comments and actions at the arrest scene and in his trial testimony. 

During the RJA hearing, an expert witness on race and the criminal legal system testified that the officer exhibited implicit bias in several ways that can appeal to and reinforce racial bias and stereotypes in the minds of jurors. 

“The cumulative effect of the officer’s racially-coded words and discriminatory language amounted to a violation of the Racial Justice Act,” said Deputy Public Defender Lilah Wolf, who argued the RJA motion in court. “While our office has always challenged instances of more explicit racial animus toward our clients, the Racial Justice Act now empowers us to address this kind of insidious implicit bias that undercuts due process and perpetuates the unfair treatment of Black and Brown people in the criminal legal system.”

“We hope that this ruling stands as a testament to the power of the California Racial Justice Act that we can win these motions and help challenge unjust convictions and sentences,” said Mano Raju, San Francisco’s elected Public Defender. “I commend our team of public defenders for being stalwart defenders of justice and holding the line to stop implicit bias from having undue influence over the lives of our clients.” 

Since the Racial Justice Act went into effect, San Francisco public defenders have filed RJA motions in numerous cases, but few have resulted in judges granting evidentiary hearings. This was the first RJA motion in San Francisco Superior Court that has led to a judge issuing remedies for the accused person.

This groundbreaking legal achievement was a collaboration of the Defense and Research units of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. Bailey’s trial team was led by Deputy Public Defender Diamond Ward, Investigator Aubria Jefferson, Paralegal Susan Larsen, and Felony Unit Manager Elizabeth Camacho. Deputy Public Defender Lilah Wolf argued the successful Racial Justice Act motion at Bailey’s evidentiary hearing with contributions from Deputy Public Defender Oliver Kroll and Research Director Sujung Kim.  

##

123...86Page 1 of 86
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv