S.F. Public Defender’s MAGIC Programs Celebrate 20 Years of Service to Youth & Families in the Bayview and Fillmore Districts
SAN FRANCISCO – Today, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office gathered with community partners to celebrate 20 years of its MAGIC programs (Mobilization for Adolescent Growth In Communities). For the past two decades, MAGIC has built and fostered partnerships that support its mission of keeping young people from the Bayview and the Fillmore districts from entering the criminal system. Since 2004, MAGIC has partnered with community-based, faith-based, and non-profit organizations, city and county agencies, schools, and other stakeholders to create opportunities for young people to grow and thrive in safe, healthy communities.
MAGIC serves as a convener, facilitating a wide variety of events and programs with local organizations and service providers that focus on the educational, economic, health, and juvenile justice needs of children, youth, and their families living in these communities. Here are some examples:
MAGIC engages the Bayview Hunters Point and Fillmore Western Addition communities year-round by facilitating youth activities and workshops, producing weekly community resource calendars that list local events and opportunities, and hosting monthly convenor meetings with local organizations to collaborate, develop, inform, and improve neighborhood services.
MAGIC hosts annual events like backpack giveaways, summer literacy and holiday events, and youth talent showcases.
MAGIC also facilitates community service activities such as distributing Thanksgiving turkeys and fresh groceries to hundreds of families, and thousands of health and hygiene packs to families and unhoused people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our MAGIC programs work to strengthen communities that are historically under-resourced and over-policed,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju. “Ensuring that youth and families have access to opportunities and feel empowered is how we can create lasting community safety and break the intergenerational cycles of system involvement.”
“It’s a joy to serve our communities and to see our young people grow and develop their talents and academic achievements,” said Brittany Ford, MAGIC Executive Director. “MAGIC participants form strong community bonds through service and friendship and give back to the community themselves.”
One of the speakers at the celebration was Brittani Mitchell, who became involved in Mo’MAGIC when she was in middle school, and is now a freshman at an Historically Black College in Maryland. “MAGIC didn’t just help me academically and personally – they taught me the importance of community. They showed me how powerful it is when people come together to support one another, and now I want to be that same source of light for someone else.”
A History of MAGIC
MAGIC was founded in 2004 by the late Public Defender Jeff Adachi with community leaders in the Bayview to address the impact of trauma, poverty, and violence on youth in targeted districts, and to close the school-to-prison pipeline. In 2006, the program expanded from the Bayview to a second location in the Fillmore, and the two programs have been known as B’MAGIC and Mo’MAGIC. In 2022, under the leadership of current Public Defender Mano Raju, the two programs were consolidated as BMo’MAGIC with Brittany Ford named the Executive Director.
Over the years, MAGIC has won numerous community awards. Most recently, in October 2024, B’MAGIC won the Outstanding Partner in Community Award from the Southeast Community Center.
SF Public Defenders Condemn Latest Courthouse Arrest of 9-Months-Pregnant Woman
SF District Attorney & SFPD continue to collude with Feds to target immigrant mothers, circumvent due process, and violate Sanctuary Ordinance
SAN FRANCISCO —On Oct. 24, SFPD officers carried out a surprise arrest of a nine-months-pregnant woman when she arrived for a hearing at the San Francisco Hall of Justice. This latest arrest is part of a disturbing pattern of law enforcement targeting young immigrant mothers who are facing drug sales charges in San Francisco and turning them over to the U.S. Marshals for federal prosecution and then deportation. In this case, the woman, who suffers from pregnancy-related medical conditions, was held in jail overnight where she endured a sleepless night on a cold metal bench. Most alarmingly, she was also threatened and harassed by U.S. marshals, who told her that her baby—due in two weeks—would be taken away from her.
The woman who was arrested in the courthouse last week had previously been in custody in August, where her health suffered due to the poor diet provided by the jail and she was diagnosed with medical complications related to her pregnancy. At that time, her public defender successfully argued for her release so she could tend to her health and return to court for her scheduled hearings. Officers and prosecutors who decided to seize her when she arrived at court, so she could be transferred into federal custody, should have known that she was close to giving birth.
“The cruelty of this troubling practice has hit a new low,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju
“The cruelty of this troubling practice has hit a new low,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju, whose office helped expose the fact that the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office has a designated staff member who is given a unique federal title—Special Assistant U.S. Attorney—and who refers San Francisco court cases to the federal court. These referrals have frequently targeted immigrant mothers for federal arrest at the San Francisco courthouse, after which a case is filed in federal court and the local case is dismissed. The woman seized last week has since been released from federal custody as a result of advocacy by the San Francisco and Federal Public Defender offices, but she and her family members are deeply upset by the callousness of officers toward a pregnant woman whose health is precarious.
There have been at least 100 people arrested in this manner over the past year, circumventing people’s Constitutional due process rights. Once in federal custody, individuals are often offered coercive “fast-track” deals where they can either go to trial and face decades in prison or plead guilty and be handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which transfers them to inhumane detention centers. At that point, individuals are likely to be deported. This practice skirts both San Francisco’s long-standing Sanctuary Ordinance and California state law (the CA Values Act), which strictly prohibit local law enforcement from assisting ICE with funneling people into deportation.
Today, the FREE SF Coalition sent a letter signed by 32 immigrant and civil rights organizations to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins demanding that her office stop colluding with federal prosecutors to target immigrants for arrest in our local courthouse. The letter states that this practice “makes it harder for people to show up to their local hearings for fear of immigration enforcement” and “singles out and scapegoats the immigrant community for the tragic fentanyl overdose crisis, and evades our historic Sanctuary law, which is crucial to building strong, safe communities.”
Last month, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office announced an acquittal in a drug sales case where jurors unanimously determined that the young man, now in his 20s, had been trafficked as a minor to sell drugs in San Francisco under threat of harm to him and his family members. Similarly, there is evidence that the pregnant woman who was arrested on Oct. 24 was trapped in debt bondage by traffickers and has suffered gender-based abuse, including by U.S. law enforcement officials.
“I commend our public defenders who have worked tirelessly to protect this client’s rights amidst a clear campaign to scapegoat immigrants for our city’s public health crisis,” said Deputy Public Defender Elizabeth Camacho, a felony manager with the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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 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.
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 PhilTing (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 — 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, theelected 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.”
SF Public Defenders Say Charges Against Bridge Protesters Should be Dropped
SAN FRANCISCO – On Saturday, August 10, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced multiple charges against 26 protesters who were demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to military aid to the state of Israel on the Golden Gate Bridge on April 15. Prosecutors demanded that the individuals turn themselves in to the California Highway Patrol by August 12. The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office,which anticipates representing several of these individuals, is issuing the following statement:
Public Defenders support the time-honored tradition of civil disobedience, including the occupation of roadways, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led during the Civil Rights Movement to protest racial segregation in the 1960s.
By charging anti-war protesters with dozens of felonies, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is weaponizing the law against people of conscience who are demanding an end to the ongoing displacement and killings of thousands of innocent children and adults in Gaza.
Recall that after the Golden Gate Bridge protest in April, Jenkins went fishing on Twitter for complaints about the protest even though no one was injured and the California Highway Patrol cleared the roadway with no resistance from protesters. The CHP should be made to answer for the four-hour delay in resolving the protest, which augmented the inconveniences of commuters.
“The protestors are opposing American tax dollars being used to fund ongoing attacks on the people in Gaza, which the International Criminal Court has deemed crimes against humanity,” said Public Defender Mano Raju. “Our attorneys intend to vehemently defend any individuals we are appointed to represent.”
