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Man Beaten By Police Acquitted Of All Charges

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Man Beaten By Police Acquitted Of All Charges

San Francisco, CA — A young homeless man who was punched and kicked by officers after refusing to stop for questioning has been acquitted of all charges, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

Jurors on Monday afternoon acquitted Joshua Boling, 22, of eight felonies—two counts of assault on an officer, one count of brandishing a knife on an officer, and five counts of resisting arrest. Boling, who had no previous history of violence, faced up to 11 years and eight months in prison and three strikes if convicted, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Michelle Tong.

San Francisco Police Department bicycle officers were on routine patrol in the Panhandle area of Golden Gate Park on July 11 when they spotted a familiar homeless woman sitting alongside Boling and a broken bike. The officers engaged the woman, who they knew by name, and asked her how she was doing. Boling, meanwhile, got up and walked away. One of the officers followed Boling, telling him to stop so they could talk. Boling then ran into traffic on Fell Street.

The two officers pedaled across Fell Street and approached Boling on the sidewalk, where he had stopped. Officer James Tacchini drew his baton and commanded Boling to get on the ground. Claiming Boling took a “fighting stance” and believing he drew a folded pocket knife from his pocket, Tacchini then hit Boling in the knee, causing Boling to stagger. Boling then ran back into traffic on Fell Street and cut through the Department of Motor Vehicle parking lot toward Oak Street. By this time, six to 10 officers were in pursuit.

Officers tackled Boling on Oak Street near Divisadero Street, where Sgt. Joan Cronin testified that she put Boling in a carotid chokehold when he tried to stand back up. Tacchini testified that he punched Boling six times in the face with a closed fist and kicked him in the shoulder.

Police found an unsheathed pocket knife and a black lighter in Boling’s possession. Boling, who suffered severe bruising and whose eye was swollen shut, was treated by paramedics. Cronin reported that Boling bit her hand, but photographs presented at trial showed no visible injury, Tong said. Officer Michael Diskin suffered scrapes to his hands and Officer Elizabeth Prillinger reported bruises to her knees.

Tacchini suffered a sprained wrist and bruised knuckles, and went on worker’s compensation for three weeks.

Four officers testified during the trial, offering varying and changing reasons for detaining Boling, ranging from wanting to help him to concern for his mental health to suspecting him of bike theft, Tong said.

None could offer a legal reason for stopping and pursuing Boling, who had committed no crime.

“Walking away while homeless is not a crime,” Tong said. “A hunch is not a good enough reason to chase someone through traffic and pummel them into submission.”

A use of force expert brought by the prosecution testified that in involuntary psychiatric hold would have been preferable to an arrest.

Jurors, who deliberated less than a day before reaching their not guilty verdict, said the case raised concerns about how officers interact with homeless people, Tong said.

Adachi noted that a citizen is not required to remain with a police officer unless they are being detained. To detain someone, police must have reasonable suspicion of a crime.

“Mr. Boling is not required to give up his constitutional rights because he is homeless,” Adachi said. “During the encounter, he was outnumbered and afraid. Fortunately, he had a public defender to stand up for him in court and a jury who was able to determine the truth.”

Boling was released from jail Monday. The bicycle was later determined by police not to have been stolen.

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Jeff Adachi Honored For Mentorship, Youth Programs

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Jeff Adachi Honored For Mentorship, Youth Programs

San Francisco, CA — San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi will be among eight Asian American leaders honored Saturday by the West Bay Pilipino Multi Service Center.

West Bay’s 2nd Annual Distinguished Citizens Awards will be held from 5-8 p.m. at the University of San Francisco, Lone Mountain Campus, 2800 Turk Street. Tickets are $50 and are available both online and at the door. Go to http://bit.ly/citizenawards for more information.

Adachi was selected for his dedication to youth mentorship. In addition to legal representation, the office’s Juvenile Unit offers nationally-recognized educational and rehabilitative programs. The Public Defender’s outreach programs, called MAGIC, provide summer programming, professional development and advocacy to youth in the Western Addition and Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhoods.

“Mr. Adachi is known for his strong advocacy of summer school programs for youth, to keep them off the street and out of trouble. Also, Mr. Adachi had been a supporter of West Bay’s youth program, by participating in its mentorship program in partnership with the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California,” said West Bay Pilipino Center Executive Director Vivian Zalvidea Araullo. “Mr. Adachi met with West Bay youth and inspired them to consider a future in public service through the pursuit of a career in law.”

Adachi was nominated by University of San Francisco Professor Marie-Lorraine Mallare. Adachi was Mallare’s law school mentor.

“Jeff has always been my role-model, an inspiration with all that he does in the community, and with our legal system,” Mallare said.

Additional honorees include former West Bay Pilipino Multi Service Center Executive Director Rudy Asercion; former Daly City Mayor Ray Buenaventura; Academy of Art University Vice President for Community Affairs Rebecca Delgado-Rottman; PG&E Vice President for Government Affairs Travis Kiyota; San Francisco Mayor’s Adviser on Education Hydra Mendoza; Asian Art Museum Executive Director Jay Xu; and Philippine International Aid founder Mona Lisa Yuchengco.

The event, which will include a live and silent auction, benefits West Bay’s AfterSchool Academic Enrichment and Mentorship Program. The program provides academic and culturally competent mentoring support to youth ages 5 -17 and their families primarily from the underserved neighborhoods of South of Market and the Tenderloin.

“We are also raising funds for West Bay’s soon-to-be-launched College Prep Program for underserved youth,” said Araullo.

West Bay, the oldest Filipino-led nonprofit agency in Northern California, offers a multitude of free services to newly arrived Filipino immigrants, Filipino Americans and other underserved communities.

 

Mom Losing Her Cool Is Not A Crime, Jury Finds

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Mom Losing Her Cool Is Not A Crime, Jury Finds

San Francisco, CA — A law-abiding mother whose life was turned upside down following an argument with her daughters has been cleared of child endangerment and threats, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

Jurors on Friday acquitted Yu Fen Huang, 51, of criminal threats. A second charge, abusing or endangering the health of a child, resulted in the jury hanging 11-1 in favor of not guilty. Prosecutors dismissed the charge on Monday.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of a year in jail. Huang, a legal resident of the U.S. for 19 years, would have also risked deportation to China, said her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Linda Yu.

Huang, a preschool janitor with no criminal record or history of violence, was arrested July 19 in the family’s efficiency studio in Chinatown. She had spent the day making a slow-cooking, culturally significant soup for her daughters, 12 and 14. When the soup was finished, she offered it to the girls before leaving the apartment for a few minutes. In her absence, the girls poured the untouched soup down the drain. They retreated up a ladder to a plywood loft inside the small residence.

Huang returned and was chopping vegetables when she noticed the soup in the sink. She confronted the girls, taking a step up the ladder. Her older daughter kicked the loft door closed, slamming it in Huang’s face. With the vegetable knife still in her hand, Huang banged on the loft door and scolded the girls, saying “I’ll chop you up,” and muttering to herself, “I’d rather light myself on fire than deal with this.”

Huang’s older daughter called 911, summoning the police. None of the responding officers could speak Huang’s language, Toisanese. A Cantonese speaking officer was able to communicate with her in a basic fashion, but was unable to grasp Huang’s explanation that she was trying to discipline her girls.

At the police station, she was interrogated by another Cantonese speaking officer, who wrote in his report that Huang told him she sawed the knife in and out of her daughters’ door to frighten them.

At the trial, Yu presented both the tape and the transcript of Huang’s interrogation, revealing that Huang never made the statement the officer claimed in his report.

Both of Huang’s daughters took the stand. The older girl admitted she was very angry with her mother, rather than frightened, and the only physical discipline she could remember was a slap on the hand when she was in kindergarten. The younger girl testified that she did not become frightened until her sister called the police.

Huang had been unable to go home to her husband or see her girls since her arrest due to a restraining order. Her family, who did not want her prosecuted, packed the courtroom. The arrest also caused her to be suspended from her job.

During the trial, Yu argued that Huang telling her daughters she would cut them up amounted to nothing more than the hyperbole of frustrated parent, comparable to “I brought you into this world and I can take you out.”

Huang’s sister-in-law, who is also her neighbor, testified to Huang’s reputation for honesty and non-violence.

“Ms. Huang is tremendously relieved that she can go home to her family and return to her job,” Yu said. “To a 14-year-old, the world is black and white. The truth is that an imperfect parent is not a criminal parent.”

Adachi said Huang’s case shows how people accused of even minor crimes can face life-changing consequences.

“Ms. Huang’s charges were misdemeanors, but the potential immigration consequences were far worse than a stint in county jail. Despite being a law-abiding, legal resident for nearly two decades, she would have become deportable. Fortunately, Ms. Huang’s public defender was able to mend some of the damage cause by the arrest.”

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Op-Ed: The Waste, Inequity of Filling Jails With Those Who Can’t Make Bail

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By Jeff Adachi and Naneen Karraker

Special to the San Francisco Chronicle

You may think jail is a place for convicted criminals. You would be wrong. In San Francisco, 85 percent of the roughly 1,300 inmates in county jail haven’t been convicted of anything. That’s more than 1,000 men and women. They are there not because they have been found guilty but because they simply cannot afford bail.

Despite our progressive reputation, California uses an ineffective, costly and outdated system to determine who stays in jail and who is released.

Earlier this year, San Francisco Superior Court judges raised the standard bail amounts for numerous crimes. The bail for contempt of court, for instance, jumped from $10,000 to $20,000.

These higher bails ensure that a poor person charged with even a minor crime will remain in jail, which costs taxpayers $140 per day, while a wealthy person will be able to afford to get out regardless of the severity of his or her charges. Being in custody means an increased likelihood of conviction. It means wearing jail garb instead of a suit in front of the jury. It means accepting a plea bargain just to get out to save your job or care for your children.

The use of bail also exacerbates racial disparities in the system. A recent report released by San Francisco’s Center on Criminal and Juvenile Justice cites a finding that the average bail for Latinos is more than $50,000, compared with $28,000 for whites. A recent study of 40 of the largest U.S. counties that found that, among those in jail because they could not afford bail, 27 percent were white, 36 percent African American and 44 percent Latino.

Non-monetary forms of pretrial release such as own-recognizance release or supervised pretrial release are underutilized in San Francisco because the Pretrial Diversion Project just doesn’t get enough support. With adequate funding, the program could hire the staff needed to make sure all people arrested are screened, their cases are presented to the court, and they are supervised to make sure they appear for hearings.

Non-monetary release isn’t simply fairer than the money bail system; it’s also more cost-effective.

Evaluations of pretrial services in five Northern California counties found that their return-to-court rates were higher than the national average for release on bail. San Francisco topped the list at a 97 percent return rate for non-monetary pretrial release as compared with an 82 percent return rate for those who put up bail.

While monetary bail is not going to vanish as a pretrial release option, we need to be smarter about it. Several states have passed laws shifting the pretrial release process from a cash-based one to a risk-based one. A Maryland law requiring courts to use a risk-assessment tool to determine pretrial release options resulted in a 3 to 4 percent increase in the number of people released in the first year. While not a huge increase, it is a step in the right direction. We could do the same in California right now.

Jeff Adachi is the San Francisco public defender. Naneen Karraker is a member of San Francisco Taxpayers for Public Safety. She has worked for over 40 years on criminal justice matters locally, statewide and regionally, including pretrial release options, alternatives to incarceration and youth violence prevention.

Guard Who Feared For Life Cleared Of Gun Charges

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San Francisco, CA — A nightclub security guard who armed himself for protection against a threatening patron has been cleared of gun charges after two juries failed to convict him, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge John K. Stewart on Friday dismissed two misdemeanor gun charges against Xavier Johnson after jurors announced the same day they were deadlocked 11-1 for acquittal. The case had been retried by prosecutors after the first jury hung in April. Johnson, who was charged with possession of a concealed weapon and possession of a loaded gun found at his own gun safes bellflower ca, faced up to a year in jail.

The dismissal ends a two year legal nightmare for the 24-year-old aspiring police officer with no criminal record, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Lutes-Koths.

Johnson was arrested Aug. 4, 2012 after his first night of work as a security guard for the now-closed Shine, a lounge on Mission and Washburn streets.

Johnson was working the door when a silver Range Rover with 26-inch rims parked in front of the club. A man dressed head to toe in white stepped out, along with three companions. The man was joined on the sidewalk by an entourage of 20 people, some of them filming or taking photographs.

When Johnson asked the customer to remove his white hat in compliance with Shine’s dress code, the man demanded to speak to Johnson’s manager, who agreed to make an exception. The group filed into the club, but Johnson turned away one member of the entourage, a 17-year-old boy with no identification.

When the customer with the white hat learned of the situation, he came outside with three other men and unleashed a profane tirade at Johnson, again demanding to speak with the manager. Apparently mistaking Johnson’s back brace for a Kevlar vest, the man told Johnson, “I got guns that can get through that that use a reloading press.”

Johnson testified that he attempted to diffuse the situation, asking the man to calm down and step to the side so the two could talk reasonably. The manager responded and approved the entrance of everyone in the entourage. On his way back inside, the man turned to Johnson and said, “I’ll wait for you after the club.”

Johnson, who grew up in Hunters Point and lost two brothers to unsolved murders, immediately became afraid, he testified, but continued to work due to assurances by staff members that the patron would forget his grievance.

At the end of the night, Johnson was told to wait by the club’s side door where the promoters would come out and pay him. Johnson spotted the Range Rover parked nearby. When he checked a second time, he saw the man in the white hat and three friends sitting inside the vehicle. Believing they were waiting for him, Johnson retrieved his lawfully-owned gun from a locked box in his friend’s trunk and concealed it under his shirt.

Eventually, the promoters emerged and paid Johnson. The Range Rover drove away, and Washburn began to chat with coworkers. Meanwhile, a man in an apartment above the lounge called 911, telling police a man was displaying and taking pictures with a gun. Police responded and arrested Johnson, who immediately told officers where to find his weapon.

The caller’s description of the weapon and Johnson’s clothing were inaccurate, and no witnesses or photographs supporting the 911 caller’s version of events were presented at trial. A police sergeant who investigated the case testified that he had seen the man in the white hat at a gas station earlier in the evening. The sergeant testified he recognized the man as a known pimp.

Johnson testified that calling the police was not an option because he believed it would put him and his family at risk of retaliation. The sergeant testified that it is not uncommon for people who live in crime-plagued neighborhoods to fear getting police involved.

Character witnesses testified that Johnson, who cares for his disabled stepfather, is honest, hardworking, and quick to help both friends and strangers.

“Jurors found Mr. Johnson extremely credible and several of them wished him well following the verdict,” Lutes-Koths said.

Adachi called prosecutors’ decision to retry the case a waste of taxpayer money.

“San Francisco spent close to $100,000 on two trials—all to prosecute a law-abiding citizen who was afraid for his life. Fortunately, the judge put an end to this pointless pursuit and Mr. Johnson can get on with his life,” Adachi said.

 

Public Defender, Quattrone Center to Study Consequences of Race, Justice in SF

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San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Public Defender’s office has partnered with a national research and policy hub to embark on a broad study to identify racial disparities in San Francisco’s criminal justice system.

The Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School will work hand-in-hand with the public defender’s office to gather a broad range of statistics providing insight into drug arrests, traffic stops, plea deals, sentences and bail.

“Public defenders work for equal justice,” San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said. “The goal of this study is to identify the places in the system where ‘justice for all’ is failing, so we can advance solutions.”

Quattrone Center Executive Director John Hollway said researchers are particularly interested in studying plea agreements, which are used to resolve approximately 95 percent of criminal cases.

“Dozens of people accept plea bargains every day in San Francisco, thousands across the U.S., and no one really knows whether or why similar people might get different plea deals, or to what extent innocent people might be pleading guilty just to speed up the process or because they don’t trust the system to get it right,” said Hollway. “We’re excited to partner with the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office to look at data that can provide an objective understanding of this largely unstudied, but hugely important part of our judicial system.”

In the first phase of the study, researchers will examine case data and demographics as well as gather new information. The San Francisco Public Defender and the Quattrone Center expect to release a report of preliminary recommendations based on their findings in approximately one year.

Deputy Public Defender Chris Hite, who co-chairs the San Francisco Public Defender’s Racial Justice Committee, says the study’s data will ensure that proposed changes to the system are based on careful research.

“We’re looking forward to working with Quattrone Center and using its research to support improvements to the criminal justice system in order to reduce racial disparities. Among the issues we’ve identified are the way gang, drug, gun and cell phone theft prosecutions are handled in San Francisco,” Chris says.

The 2013 County Jail Needs Assessment issued by the San Francisco Controller’s Office shows deep racial disparities. Just 6 percent of San Francisco residents are African American, but 56 percent of the city’s jail inmates are black. According to a 2013 ACLU report that analyzed federal data, African Americans in San Francisco were 4.3 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, even though studies show people of all racial and ethnic background use and sell marijuana at similar rates.

By working with public defenders, researchers hope to learn:

  • Whether race is a factor in bail decisions, or decisions to hold people in custody.
  • How race affects plea offers and outcomes, and the severity of sentencing.
  • In what ways ethnicity, age, employment status, income, neighborhood and arrest location affect outcomes.
  • Whether the ethnicity of the judge, prosecutor and defense attorney are factors in case outcomes.
  • Whether minority defendants are more likely to be detained, arrested and prosecuted for certain types of offenses, such as drug, gun and gang cases.
  • Whether race is a factor in the use of strikes or enhancements in the prosecution of cases.
  • What policies and procedures or other strategies might address the disparities.

 

Man Acquitted of Attacking Self-Appointed Street Sheriff

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San Francisco, CA — A recycler accused of attacking the self-appointed sheriff of a SOMA alley was acquitted of all charges after a jury determined he acted in self-defense, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

Jurors deliberated 3½ hours before finding 51-year-old Albert Taylor not guilty Friday of two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of simple battery, and one count of terrorist threats. If convicted of all charges, Taylor faced up to two years in jail, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Jack Lamar.

Taylor’s Aug. 9 arrest stemmed from a longstanding feud with 52-year-old Rex Wallace over Taylor’s right to travel down Clementina Street near 8th Street. Taylor, a former massage therapist, click site for more details about it, beset by a back injury, collected bottles and cans in the area. Wallace, a homeless man who referred to himself as the street’s sheriff, had banned Taylor from the alley after arguing with him.

On the day of the confrontation, Taylor spotted Wallace on nearby Natoma Street and reasoned that the coast was clear for him to take a shortcut through Clementina Street. However, Wallace was already returned and was lying on the alley’s sidewalk. As Taylor passed, Wallace raised his head and said, “What are you doing here? You’ve been 86’ed.”

Wallace, who testified he is a practitioner of Eskrima, the Filipino art of stick-fighting, picked up a 3-foot tree branch and struck Taylor, lacerating his ear. In response, an injured Taylor picked up a metal pallet and used it as a shield until it became too heavy, Taylor testified. He then removed a metal tripod from his recycling cart and swung it at Wallace.

Wallace was not injured in the confrontation. Taylor was taken to the hospital for a CT scan after losing partial hearing.

Wallace told police that Taylor tried to stab him with a piece of wood that splintered off the wooden pallet and threatened to kill him—accusations that were not supported by witnesses during the trial.

“The law says you can use reasonable force to defend yourself and that is exactly what Mr. Taylor did,” Lamar said. “He had just been hit in the head. He was dazed and frightened but he knew he had to protect himself from further injury.”

Adachi applauded the jury’s verdict.

“Mr. Taylor stood up to a bully who attacked him for traveling down a public street. Thankfully, he had a public defender who could tell his side of the story and a jury who carefully considered the evidence,” Adachi said.

New Trial Granted Over Juror Misconduct

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San Francisco, CA — A man convicted last month of three robberies will receive a new trial after a judge found two jurors had poisoned the deliberations with their comments, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Kay Tsenin on Friday granted the public defender’s new trial request for Fernando Renteria, 20, of Vacaville. Tsenin found that two jurors had convinced their fellow jurors that a tattoo of the letter “B” on Renteria’s right hand was actually the number “13,” claiming it was evidence Renteria was a member of the violent street gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. Renteria, who works at a bakery and has no criminal convictions, has never been part of the MS-13 gang, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Megan Burns.

Jurors reported that at the start of deliberations, half of them believed Renteria was not guilty and was potentially a victim of mistaken eyewitness identification. After three days of discussion, they unanimously convicted Renteria. At least one juror later testified that the inflammatory statements made by the two jurors about gangs influenced her evaluation of the evidence.

One of the jurors, a former military police officer, told the rest of the jury that he had received training in gangs. He explained that he had deeper knowledge of the case because of his gang training, telling the jurors that the inspector who testified during the trial used to work in the Mission, had familiarity with Latino gangs and knew Renteria was “in the game,” this extensive explanation will help you.

Another juror added additional comments about gangs and told a fantastical story during deliberations, claiming to have been kidnapped, tortured, and held for ransom by unknown bandits who believed his father was an ambassador. The juror later admitted that he had never been kidnapped and actually broke his back during a work-related incident. Burns said she believes that the juror told the kidnapping story to create sympathy for the complaining witnesses who were unable to identify Renteria as the robber.

Several jurors, including the two men accused of misconduct, were questioned during an evidentiary hearing on Thursday. Judge Tsenin found that the two jurors accused of misconduct had not testified truthfully at the hearing. She ruled that the extraneous comments were inherently and substantially likely to have influenced the jury because the charges did not include gang allegations.

The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. constitution guarantees an impartial jury. Juror misconduct raises a presumption of prejudice and, unless the prosecution rebuts that presumption by proof that no prejudice actually resulted, the defendant is entitled to a new trial.

“An unbiased jury has been upheld by the Supreme Court as a fundamental right,” Adachi said. “A just verdict depends on the honesty and objectivity of each juror. When jurors lie or introduce extraneous information, it strikes at the heart of our justice system.”

Burns, who discovered the misconduct during a routine follow up with jury members after the verdict, said the case illustrates how easily one or two people can poison the jury deliberation process.

“The consequences of juror misconduct are profound. Not only was Mr. Renteria unjustly convicted, but the city wasted a tremendous amount of resources on his trial,” Burns said.

Renteria and two companions were arrested April 22 after items from three recent robberies were discovered in their car. Renteria was the only one of the three prosecuted for the robberies. During his trial, Renteria testified that he and his girlfriend had gone into San Francisco for a date night at the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman’s Wharf. One of his friends had ridden with them into the city and when the couple later picked him up to take him home, he entered the car with the stolen property.

SF Public Defender to Provide Legal Help to Veterans

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SF Public Defender to Provide Legal Help to Veterans

San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office will help scores of homeless and low-income veterans clean up their criminal records and lift outstanding warrants and fines Saturday at East Bay Stand Down, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

The community event, held every two years at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, provides medical, dental and legal help to approximately 400 veterans in need. The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office has been participating in the event for more than a decade. This year’s Stand Down event runs Thursday, Sept. 11 through Saturday, Sept. 13.

“San Francisco’s public defenders are honored to serve those who served our country. We can help veterans get instant relief from many legal problems, including cleaning up their criminal records so they can get jobs, housing, or college financial aid,” Adachi said. The public defender’s office expects to serve 50-100 veterans Saturday.

Nationally, it is estimated that there are more than 250,000 needy and homeless veterans on the streets on any given night. Within the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates that there are more than 7,000 needy or homeless veterans. In the Northern California area, estimates are as high as 15,000 or more. A significant number of these veterans have had little or no contact with the VA for either monetary or medical benefits.

For more information on East Bay Stand Down, please visit eastbaystanddown.org

 

Man Acquitted of Murder in Park Death

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San Francisco, CA — A man charged with fatally choking a sexual partner during a 2011 encounter in Buena Vista Park was acquitted of murder today, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced.

Jurors deliberated six days before finding David Munoz Diaz, 25, not guilty of murder, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Alex Lilien. Diaz was instead convicted of involuntary manslaughter, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of four years. Diaz has been in custody more than three years awaiting trial.

Jurors convicted Diaz of arson of the property of another, mutilating human remains and misdemeanor destroying evidence.

Charges against Diaz stemmed from the death of Freddy Canul-Arguello, 23, whose body was found in Buena Vista Park June 10, 2011.  The two men, friendly acquaintances who enjoyed a previous sexual encounter, had hours earlier run into each other in the Castro and walked to the park to have sex. During the tryst, Diaz reluctantly agreed to choke Canul-Arguello, accidentally asphyxiating him. Frightened and distraught, Diaz placed a recycling bin near the body and lit the contents to signal for help. He then pulled a nearby fire alarm box and made several calls to 911.

“David is a sweet kid who never meant to hurt anyone. I am relieved the jury was able to determine the truth—that Freddy’s death was a terrible, tragic accident.” Lilien said.

During the month-long trial, a friend of Canul-Arguello testified that he confided that he enjoyed being choked during sex. Called by the defense, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy testified that Canul-Arguello’s injuries were not inconsistent with erotic asphyxia. A medical doctor and instructor at UCSF also took the stand, explaining the sexual practice of choking and “breath play.”

Diaz, a restaurant worker, had no previous criminal history.

Adachi applauded the jurors for carefully considering the testimony and weighing the evidence in the case.

“There was no motive for Mr. Diaz to intentionally harm his friend and no evidence to support a murder charge. Fortunately, his public defender was able to show that Mr. Canul-Arguello’s death was a tragedy but not murder as the prosecutor claimed,” Adachi said.

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