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SF Public Defender to Address Criminal Justice Reform at National Summit

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San Francisco, CA — San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi will address a national audience of defense attorneys and leaders in criminal justice reform this Thursday, July 26, sharing his office’s success in raising the standards for quality defense.

 

Adachi will provide the opening presentation, “Expanding the Right to Counsel,” at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) 11th Annual State Criminal Justice Network Conference, held Thursday and Friday at The Westin St. Francis in San Francisco. The conference is part of NACDL’s 55th Annual Meeting and Seminar, the largest gathering of criminal defense attorneys in the U.S.

 

The conference’s theme is Gideon and Beyond: Securing Constitutional Rights Through Policy Advocacy. Adachi’s panel begins at 10:05 a.m. and will also feature Cathy Ansheles, executive director; New Mexico Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The conference includes members of legislative committees, lobbyists and reformers working to promote criminal justice reform in their state legislatures.

 

Adachi’s presentation will outline San Francisco public defenders’ steps to demonstrate the value of their work through public awareness, forming liaisons, and creating a system to manage caseloads, measure work and improve the quality of representation.

 

“The right to effective counsel is guaranteed by the Constitution,” Adachi said. “San Francisco public defenders take that duty very seriously and we are very happy to share our best practices with others fighting for equal justice.”

 

In addition, San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Jacque Wilson will be among the featured speakers at the NACDL Annual Meeting and Seminar on Thursday. Wilson, who is assigned to the Public Defender’s Felony Unit, will address a national audience of criminal defense attorneys on cross-cultural jury selection. Wilson is the founding director of Advocates for Justice, a non-profit organization that fights for social, economic and criminal justice. In 2009, he was honored by the NAACP for his contributions in the area of human and civil rights. He has tried more than 50 cases to verdict ranging from misdemeanor to life cases.

 

 

 

 

 

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Stop And Frisk Would Deny Rights Of SF Residents

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Jeff Adachi

Mayor Ed Lee: Don’t do it. Don’t implement a stop-and-frisk policy in an attempt to address gun violence in San Francisco. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees all Americans the right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures.

It applies to all of us, whether we live in Bayview-Hunters Point or Sea Cliff, the Mission or Pacific Heights, the Tenderloin or St. Francis Woods. Although the mayor has said he would implement this policy only in neighborhoods experiencing high-crime rates, thus sparing the more affluent neighborhoods, this would mean that some residents of only some neighborhoods would be subject to being stopped and searched.

Imagine living in a neighborhood where you can be stopped by an officer at any time for no reason. You can be asked for your identification, stopped on the way to work, or asked to empty your pockets and subjected to a pat search and frisk based on a police officer’s hunch. You can be detained for not having an identification card or failing to answer questions.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a police officer may stop a citizen if there are “specific and articulable facts” that would indicate that a crime is about to be committed.

But the court also held that a person cannot be frisked unless the officer has a reasonable belief that the person is carrying a weapon or illegal contraband.

Make no mistake: Racial profiling does occur in San Francisco. Despite its liberal leanings, a 2007 study by The Chronicle found that African Americans in San Francisco are arrested for felonies at nearly twice the rate as in Sacramento and Fresno, and three times the rate in San Jose, Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego, and four times the rate in Oakland. In response, a police criminologist made 28 recommendations on how San Francisco Police Department should address “perceptions of racially biased policing and its practice.” Some of these reforms have now been adopted. To encourage stops and frisks would reverse the progress made in the last five years.

While Mayor Lee says that the law would not be applied in a discriminatory fashion, data from stop-and-frisk cities bears out the discriminatory nature of the policy’s implementation. The ACLU found that of the 4 million people stopped and questioned by the New York Police Department since 2002, most were black or Latino and 90 percent had committed no crime. Go to the Salesforce website to learn more about cloud database.

In May, a federal judge found many of the NYPD’s stops unconstitutional, with officers relying on vague grounds such as “furtive” movements. Costly lawsuits have been filed by citizens who were unjustly detained.

Stop-and-frisk doesn’t work. Of the hundreds of thousands of frisks conducted in New York last year, a weapon was found in fewer than 2 percent of the stops.

While most would agree that gun violence needs to be addressed, requiring all San Franciscans to give up their constitutional rights won’t solve this problem.

Effective anticrime and antipoverty strategies, coupled with proven violence prevention and intervention strategies is the better path to addressing violence. A program that targets the very people we want to protect isn’t the answer.

Jeff Adachi is the San Francisco public defender.

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Stop-and-frisk-would-deny-rights-of-S-F-residents-3682848.php

Colorful SF Activist Cleared in Neighbor Dispute

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San Francisco, CA — A beloved San Francisco character known for his rainbow-colored wig and outspoken support for both LGBT rights and medical marijuana was acquitted of violating a restraining order taken out by his neighbor, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

 

Jury members deliberated 40 minutes Monday afternoon before finding Larry “Juicye” Edmond, 51, not guilty of two counts of violation of a court order, said Edmond’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Julian Ross.

 

Edmond, a regular at City Hall meetings, had no prior criminal record when he was arrested April 19. His downstairs neighbor, a 47-year-old man, told police that Edmond winked at him before taking a seat close by during a memorial service in a common area of their residential hotel.

 

The neighbor had been granted a civil harassment restraining order against Edmond in February after repeatedly complaining about the volume of Edmond’s music and alleging that Edmond stomped loudly on the floor. The order stated that Edmond stay more than 3 yards away from him when in the hotel and 15 yards away from him outside.

 

“Mr. Edmond’s neighbor doesn’t like him and has used the system to bully him,” Ross said. “He has called the police hundreds of times, despite Mr. Edmond engaging in legal conduct. In March, he called the police four times to report that Mr. Edmond was using the kitchen in a common area.”

 

Edmond spent 11 days in jail before being released on bail. Prosecutors added a second count against him after the neighbor told police that Edmond came within 15 yards of him at City Hall on June 5. Edmond had just voted and was on his way to a Board of Supervisors meeting. The neighbor was working as a stand-by poll inspector, Ross said.

 

The two-day trial took a bizarre turn after a district attorney who previously handled the case was called to the stand as a witness. The prosecutor testified that the neighbor had  become angry because the case was not going to trial fast enough and demanded Edmond be charged for coming too close to him on his way to the courthouse bathroom. The prosecutor testified that the neighbor then told him, “I’m going to lose my mind or I’m going to kill (Edmond).”

 

On the stand, the neighbor denied making the statement to the DA, and also recanted his earlier allegation that Edmond winked at him, Ross said. Jurors later said they did not find the neighbor credible and they did not believe Edmond’s intention was to violate the court order.

 

A staff member at Community United Against Violence, which works for LGBT safety, testified that Edmond is a peaceful and honest person.

 

Adachi said the jury reached the right verdict.

“This was a situation where the alleged victim misused the court’s stay-away process to harass Mr. Edmond. Fortunately, the jury was able to see that Mr. Edmond never intended to violate the stay-away order,” Adachi said.

 

Edmond left his rainbow wig at home during the trial, but wore flowers in his braids and his trademark jacket, which is heavily festooned with political buttons, Ross said.

 

 

 

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There’s Hope in California Graduates

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Dan Morain

Senior Editor

Sacramento Bee

We know the troubled story of California circa 2012 all too well. But there also is promise, renewed at this time each year in commencements across the state.

It’s a fundamentally optimistic time when colleges graduate some of the best this state has produced. I attended three graduations, meeting bright students and listening to thoughtful speakers as varied as California.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi spoke at UC Hastings College of the Law about the importance of practicing law with a sense of purpose. Myra Goodman spoke at the Monterey Institute of International Studies about unexpected turns that led her and her husband to found the nation’s largest grower of organic produce. Author Jonathan Franzen warned University of California, Santa Cruz, graduates about the anesthetizing impact of technology, here is a great article about hostgator.

Adachi told about injustice but showed that this state’s collective sense of justice has deep roots, illustrating it by talking about one of his heroes, Mamoru Sakuma.Sakuma’s education was interrupted when he was interned during World War II, but he returned to Hastings after the war, and in 1963 became this state’s first Japanese American judge, appointed by the father of California’s current governor.

Adachi told, too, about Clara Shortridge Foltz, a divorced mother of five children from San Jose, who aspired to become a lawyer, back in 1878. For those of you who are considering divorce as well, look for clagettbarnett.com to have a consultation with the best divorce attorney . First, she had to lobby in Sacramento to change the law that said “any white male citizen” could become a lawyer.Image result for graduates scholarship

They were more amenable to dropping the racial barrier to the bar than they were the law that barred women from the law. But Gov. William Irwin ultimately signed the Woman Lawyer’s Bill, permitting “any citizen or person” to become an attorney. This empowering move paved the way for more amicable divorces, alimony settlements and other issues because now women have somebody on their side who understands better.

The next year, Foltz paid $10 tuition and began taking classes at Hastings, but was blocked from attending classes first by a janitor and then by the board of trustees because she was a she.She sued, won before the California Supreme Court and went on to create the public defenders system, not a bad legacy. At Foltz and Sakuma’s alma mater, half of the students are women, and a third are minorities, a reflection of the present and future face of California, and a testament to its past.

As a kid, Adachi didn’t plan to attend college until a high school counselor in Sacramento, where he grew up, told him he wasn’t cut out for higher education. Determined to prove the counselor wrong, he quit his job as a waiter and duck plucker – hunters paid him 40 cents a bird to defeather the fowl – got into UC Berkeley and ultimately Hastings.

“What I didn’t realize then is that all of the things I struggled against and the setbacks I experienced actually helped me become a better lawyer. I learned how to get back up after being knocked down,” Adachi told the students, in words that apply to our Golden State.

Goodman’s story is its own inspiration, as is that of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, where students in this year’s graduating class came from Iraq, Malawi, Afghanistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, all parts of China, Venezuela, Ghana, Ivory Coast and the farm town of Dixon – 33 countries in all.

Goodman grew up in New York City. Her mother is from Hungary and her father is from Poland, by way of Auschwitz. She was a teenager when her mother got the number tattooed on her arm removed, and remembers thinking that her mother was about her age when she was deported to the Nazi concentration camp.”Even with this legacy of terror and catastrophe,” she told the students, “I see my parents finding joy in this imperfect world because they are determined to focus on love and beauty instead of anger and hate.

“I believe it all comes down to an important choice. We have the power to choose to see the tremendous beauty in this world, and remember how much we have to be
grateful for every day.”Goodman made her way to UC Berkeley, where she studied international affairs, intending to work at the United Nations or World Bank. She and her husband stopped in Carmel Valley, planning to stay for a year. That was 1984.

In the intervening years, Myra and Drew Goodman founded Earthbound Farms and built it into the largest producer of organic produce in the country, spawning a niche in the retail grocery business by packaging prewashed organic lettuce. Not bad for a New Yorker who grew up eating take-out Chinese and TV dinners.

If you spend much time with farmers, the talk might turn to water shortages, over-regulation and maybe high taxes. Goodman understands all those tough issues, and the need to keep prices competitive. But she is not oppressed by them.”None of those things come to mind being roadblocks,” she told me by phone after her speech. “It’s not like the tax structure has ever impacted our ability to be successful. You have to have your state. You’ve got to be providing services.”

Services like public universities, UC Santa Cruz among them. UC Santa Cruz proudly displays the banana slug as its mascot and is the repository of the Grateful Dead archives. A slight majority of its students are women and about half are nonwhite. Its faculty includes renowned scientists and scholars, and it’s where Franzen wrote parts of his 2010 novel, “Freedom.”

Franzen splits his time between Manhattan, and the hills that separate Santa Cruz from Silicon Valley. Many of the graduates to whom he spoke would love to work in the valley. Certainly, they are enamored with the devices developed there.Franzen is unimpressed with techno-entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, and their gadgets and programs.

“I understand, believe me, how scary and out of control the world can seem nowadays, and how tempting it is to check out of it, to be forgetful of climate change, unemployment rates, health care costs, inequitable income distribution, thermonuclear arsenals, super PAC election spending, surveillance drones and the California state budget.”

But hours spent playing with smartphones and adjusting social networking pages are lost. The time would be far better spent with family and friends, reading books, engaged in civic discourse, creating art, and such.”A propofol eternity awaits you in any case,” Franzen said, a reference to the anesthetic that causes temporary amnesia. “Your chance to remember and be a human being is right now.”

It’s easy to become jaded in Sacramento, focusing on the games that politicians play. But not far away, a scrappy lawyer defends the least popular among us, an organic farmer who is the daughter of Holocaust survivors doesn’t worry about the small things, and a storyteller compels us to think.

The students I watched graduate include my son-in-law, my son’s dear friend and a daughter. They are studying for the bar, heading to Cyprus on a Fulbright scholarship in the best medical schools in the us for a better opportunity and every year there are applications for this scholarships, there’s also a chance for applying for a job at a homeless shelter.

They are among the lucky ones in this world who have attained a higher education, in Northern California no less. They fully intend to make a difference, and they might change the world or some small part of it.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/24/v-print/4583228/theres-hope-in-california-graduates.html

Man Held In Bus Stop Attack Freed

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San Francisco, CA — A 35-year-old man accused of attacking a young woman at a bus stop in 2010 was released from jail after a jury acquitted him of a felony charge, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

 

Jury members deliberated less than two days before finding Samuel Valentine not guilty Wednesday afternoon of one count of felony assault likely to cause great bodily injury. Valentine was convicted of a lesser charge, misdemeanor assault, and sentenced to time served, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Cindy Elias. He was released from San Francisco County Jail Wednesday.

 

Valentine was arrested Dec. 29, 2010 on a San Francisco Municipal Transportation island on Ocean Avenue at Lee Street. A 20-year-old woman, who was waiting for the #29 bus with her 21-year-old brother and 25-year-old aunt, told police Valentine spit on her for no reason before slamming her head into the bus shelter. She suffered a cut to her scalp that required two staples.

 

During the day-and-a-half long trial, Valentine testified that the woman’s brother threw a punch at him after the two men began arguing at the bus stop. Valentine, who had no prior criminal convictions, struck back in self-defense, he said, and accidentally knocked the young woman’s head into the Muni shelter.

 

The woman, her brother and aunt also took the stand.

 

“Jury members believed the truth was somewhere in between Mr. Valentine’s version of events and prosecution’s version,” Elias said. “Unfortunately, police chose not to interview any of the independent witnesses to the incident.”

 

Adachi said the jury carefully weighed the evidence.

 

“After hearing testimony from both sides, it became clear that this case was overcharged,” he said.

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Young Man Not Guilty Of Robbing USF Student

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San Francisco, CA — A young man facing up to 17 years in prison for the armed robbery of a University of San Francisco student was found not guilty of all charges, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

 

Jury members deliberated for an hour Friday afternoon before acquitting Joshua Johnson, 20, of one count of robbery with use of a firearm and two counts of assault with a firearm, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Doug Welch.

 

“This was an outrageous case because police failed to follow up on numerous leads,” Welch said. “Because of that lack of follow-up, a young man with no connection to the robbery was arrested and put on trial.”

 

The May 25, 2010 robbery occurred on Golden Gate Avenue next to the USF campus. The victim, a then-19-year-old USF student, was confronted by two teenage boys in black hoodies and baggy jeans, who demanded his property. One of the teens pointed a gun at the victim, who handed over his phone, iPod Touch and backpack. When one of the victim’s three nearby friends tried to intervene, the robber pointed the gun at him as well.

 

Both assailants ran away and jumped into a Mitsubishi Outlander driven by a young woman. Friends of the victim gave chase in two cars, getting the license plate number before losing sight of the vehicle. Police tracked the Mitsubishi to an address in Union City that night and noted that the engine was warm. They interviewed the driver, a young woman who insisted she had been in Oakland, but did not arrest her nor impound the vehicle.

 

Meanwhile, one of the robbers, using the victim’s phone, accidentally dialed the victim’s friend as the friend waited at the police station. Both assailants’ voices could be heard on the voicemail, discussing the robbery and the contents of the stolen wallet, police noted in their report. However, officers chose not to record the voicemail as evidence, instead telling the friend to save it. It was automatically deleted after several weeks.

 

Eight days after the robbery, Johnson, then 18, was arrested at his high school in Vacaville. San Francisco detectives testified they found his name on a list of the driver’s associates provided by Union City police. He was subsequently picked out of a lineup by the victims. Police did not save the list of associates, Welch said.

 

During the weeklong trial, prosecutors could not prove any connection between the suspected driver and Johnson, despite having extensive cell phone records from both of them. An engineer from AT&T, using cell tower information, testified Johnson was using his phone in Vacaville at the time of the robberies. Johnson was not found with any of victim’s stolen property.

 

An eyewitness identification expert also testified to the numerous problems with the lineup. Johnson’s photo was a different size than the other five men in the lineup, and only he and one other suspect wore hooded sweatshirts similar to the men who robbed the student. The identifications were also unreliable due to the impact of trauma on memories and the frequent errors in cross-racial identification, the expert testified.

 

“The jury was extremely conscientious,” Welch said. “After the trial, they told me there were simply too many holes in the prosecution’s claims.”

 

Adachi said he was surprised the matter made it to court.

 

“There was no evidence to tie Mr. Johnson to this crime. On the other hand, there was copious evidence that he was in Vacaville the day of the robbery,” Adachi said.

 

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SF Man Acquitted in Hot Oil Attack on Roommate

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Will Kane

SF Chronicle

Friday, June 8, 2012

A jury has acquitted a San Francisco man who threw hot oil in his roommate’s face, after the defendant argued that he had been attacked first and was only protecting himself.

Felipe Manrique and his new roommate, fellow restaurant worker Pedro Torres, 49, had already gotten off to a bad start before the incident. Manrique, 48, thought Torres was holding out on $100 in rent for their Tenderloin apartment, defense lawyers said, and he suspected Torres of stealing two rings from the bedroom they shared.

After two weeks together, Manrique told Torres in mid-February that he wanted him out, the defense said.

It all came to a head when Manrique returned home to 300 Jones St. from a couple of bars around 2:40 a.m. Feb. 28, started frying up breakfast and noticed Torres “staring him down,” the public defender’s office said.

When Manrique brought up the missing rings again, Torres told him he was going to “kick his ass” and lunged at him, throwing a punch, defense attorneys said.

“Mr. Manrique responded by moving his right hand reflexively in self-defense while holding the frying pan,” splashing the oil in Torres’ face, said Deputy Public Defender Matt Sotorosen.

Torres was taken to the hospital with second-degree burns, and Manrique was charged with three felony assault and battery charges.

The Superior Court jury took 30 minutes Wednesday to acquit him.

Both Torres and Manrique testified during the four-day trial. “Their stories were very different, but the jury found Mr. Manrique to be far more credible,” Sotorosen said.

“This type of case is difficult to prove,” said Stephanie Ong Stillman, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. “There were no witnesses and two different versions of the facts.”

She added, “This was a tough case, and we respect the jury’s decision.”

Will Kane is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: wkane@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WillKane

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/08/BA471OUFHJ.DTL

This article appeared on page C – 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/07/BA471OUFHJ.DTL&tsp=1

Man Acquitted of Child Abuse in Spanking Case

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By Erin Sherbert

SF Weekly

 

The question of are you or are you not a criminal if you spank your kid made headlines again today after a San Francisco jury decided that a local father was not a child abuser because he spanked his 11-year-old son for acting up in church.

According to the Public Defender’s Office, 32-year-old Allan Rivera, who has no criminal history and is described by his pastor as a nice, quiet guy, was arrested on March 15 and charged with six counts of child abuse and six counts of battery. Rivera, who has primary custody of his son, was arrested after his ex-wife called the cops to report bruising on their son.

The boy reportedly told his mother that his father had hit him on three occasions, two of which happened on March 11 when the boy refused to get ready for church, and again during services at Restauración de la fuente when the boy was caught playing with a toy, according to the Public Defender’s Office.

 

He also told his mom that his father spanked him with a belt in February for downloading inappropriate music to his phone.

During the four-day trial, lawyers argued that Rivera was within his legal right to physically punish his son. According to California law, a parent is permitted to use physical discipline as a form of correction as long as it does not cause lasting injury or seriously endanger the child’s health.

They also noted that the child’s mother was exaggerating the use of force, partly because the couple had been tangled in a long custody battle over their son. She reported the bruises on her son just two days after she petitioned the court to lift her driver’s license suspension for not paying child support, lawyers said.

Prosecutors never called the mother to testify in the case, nor did they present the initial taped statements she and her son made to police. What’s more, during the trial, the boy testified that his dad never spanks him unless he misbehaves, and that the spanking at church was the only bruise he had gotten from his father.

A school principal also testified that the boy’s behavior had improved dramatically since his father had won primary custody of him.

The jury wasn’t convinced that Rivera was a child abuser, and acquitted him after three hours of deliberation.

“The jury understood the difference between disciplining a child and child abuse,” said Public Defender Jeff Adachi. “This case was always about a father who very much loved his child and questionable accusations raised by his estranged spouse.”

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2012/06/father_who_spanked_son_for_mis.php

Man Acquitted Of Hot Oil Attack On Roommate

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San Francisco, CA — A man accused of throwing hot oil from a frying pan into his roommate’s face was found not guilty after a jury determined he acted in self-defense, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

 

Jury members deliberated only 30 minutes Wednesday afternoon before acquitting Felipe Manrique, 48, of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon and battery with serious bodily injury, all felonies. Manrique, who had never been arrested before, faced seven years in prison, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Matt Sotorosen.

 

Manrique was arrested Feb. 28 after his plans for a late-night snack were upended by a violent confrontation with his new roommate, 49-year-old Pedro Torres. However, the tension between the two restaurant workers started shortly after Torres moved into the Tenderloin apartment Feb. 1, Sotorosen said.

 

Torres paid Manrique $200 in rent with the promise he would provide the remaining $100 later that week. Torres never paid, however, and Manrique noticed that two of his rings were missing from the bedroom they shared. When he asked his new roommate about the rings, Torres responded in a threatening manner, yelling profanities.

 

Midway through the month, when it became apparent Torres had no plans to pay the remainder of the rent, Manrique told him he would have to leave by March 1 and again asked him about the missing rings. Torres exploded in anger, telling Manrique he should beat him up for the accusation.  Manrique later testified that he was intimidated by the exchange.

 

The day of the altercation, Manrique left work, drank two beers at two local bars, and came home to make breakfast. As he heated up oil to prepare scrambled eggs and tortillas, Torres appeared in the doorway and began staring him down, he said.

 

Knowing Torres would be moving out, Manrique asked him a final time about the rings. Torres snapped, telling Manrique he was going to “kick his ass” before lunging at him and throwing a punch, Manrique said.

 

“Mr. Manrique responded by moving his right hand reflexively in self-defense while holding the frying pan,” Sotorosen said. “He did not seek the fight. He did not instigate the fight. He only used force to ward off the attack that had been thrust upon him.”

 

Torres was treated for second degree burns on his face and wrist and released from the hospital the same day. He does not have lasting scars from the incident.

 

Both men took the stand during the four day trial.

 

“Their stories were very different, but the jury found Mr. Manrique to be far more credible,” Sotorosen said.

 

Adachi said justice was done in the case.

 

“What began as a terrible accident became a criminal prosecution with Mr. Manrique locked behind bars until he could explain what really happened,” Adachi said. “Fortunately, Mr. Manrique’s public defender showed through his presentation of the case that Mr. Manrique acted reasonably under the circumstances and the jury agreed.”

 

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Dad Who Spanked Son With Belt Acquitted Of Child Abuse

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San Francisco, CA — A father who spanked his 11-year-old son with a belt for misbehaving in church was acquitted today of child abuse charges, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced.

 

Jury members deliberated less than three hours before finding San Francisco resident Allan Rivera, 32, not guilty of six counts of child abuse and six counts of battery, all misdemeanors. Rivera, a legal resident with no criminal history, faced three years in jail if convicted, said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kevin Mitchell.

 

Rivera, who has primary custody of his son, was arrested March 15 after his former wife called police to report bruising on the boy. The child told his mother that his father had spanked him with a belt on three occasions. The boy said his father struck him twice on March 11 – first for refusing to get ready for church and again during the service for playing with a toy instead of paying attention. He also said his father spanked him with the belt sometime in February for downloading inappropriate music to his phone.

 

During the four day trial, Mitchell argued that Rivera was within his legal right to physically discipline his son and that the boy’s mother had an incentive to exaggerate the force he used.  Rivera and his ex-wife are embroiled in a long-standing custody and child support dispute.  She reported the bruises two days after she petitioned the court to lift her driver’s license suspension for non-payment of child support.

 

Prosecutors chose not to call the boy’s mother to the stand or present the initial taped statements she and the boy made to police – only the video statement the child made several days later. During the trial, the child testified that his father never spanks him unless he misbehaves and that the incident at church was the only time he was bruised by his father.

 

A school principal testified that the boy’s behavior had markedly improved since his father won primary custody and the family’s pastor testified that Rivera was an honest and peaceful man.

 

The law states that a parent may use physical discipline as a form of correction as long as it does not cause lasting injury or seriously endanger the child’s health.

 

“Mr. Rivera believed he was providing reasonable guidance and correction as a father.  The law allows a parent to determine the force of physical discipline based on the circumstances,” Mitchell said.

 

Adachi said the jury came to the right decision.

 

“The jury understood the difference between disciplining a child and child abuse,” Adachi said.  “This case was always about a father who very much loved his child and questionable accusations raised by his estranged spouse.”

 

 

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