OLD_San Francisco Public Defender's Office

San Francisco, CA – Demetrius Hill, 20, was acquitted yesterday afternoon of first degree murder in connection with the May 3, 2008 shooting death of Ajason Black, 32, in the parking lot of the Buchanan YMCA on Geary Boulevard.

Deputy Public Defender Mark Iverson, who represented Hill, successfully argued at trial that Hill had no motive to kill Black, police had no physical evidence tying Hill to the shooting, and that the eyewitnesses had motive to lie in order to cover up for the real shooter.

“I find this to be a very satisfying verdict because I believe that Demetrius Hill is innocent,” Deputy Public Defender Iverson said.
In the hours preceding the shooting, Tanya Tyler, 34, and Black were engaged in a heated public argument. At trial, Tyler and her daughter, Champagne Tyler, 18, testified to watching Hill shoot Black once in the back.

The elder Tyler admitted that the gun used to shoot Black belonged to her. According to another witness, Tyler’s son, Lamoney Tyler, 20, sold the gun the next day. Police briefly interviewed Lamoney Tyler, only after Hill was taken into custody. Inspectors never followed up with the person who allegedly purchased the gun and never recovered the weapon.

“(Tanya) Tyler’s story continuously evolved from ‘I wasn’t there at all’ to ‘Hill did it’,” paralegal Joan Kruckewitt, who provided trial support to Deputy Public Defender Iverson, said.

At trial, Deputy Public Defender Iverson revealed that Tanya Tyler, who has a previous conviction for welfare fraud, received several county reimbursements for child care services that she falsely claimed Hill was providing during the time he was in jail.

“The jury came up with their own theory of the case, ‘How can you tell when a liar is telling the truth?’ The answer to that is, you can’t,” Deputy Public Defender Iverson said, referring to the jury’s reaction to Tanya Tyler’s testimony.

It took less than six hours for the jury to acquit Hill. He faced 25 years to life if convicted.

Hill, who has been in jail since his arrest on May 28, 2008, was released at 12:30 a.m. this morning.

The mission of the Public Defender’s office is to provide vigorous, effective, competent and ethical legal representation to persons who are accused of crime and cannot afford to hire an attorney. Established in 1921, the San Francisco Public Defender has a long, proud history of providing top-notch representation to its clients, and championing programs that help people turn their lives around.

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San Francisco, CA – San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi on Thursday promised cooperation with Supervisor Sean Elsbernd’s call for an audit of the public defender’s office, but accused Elsbernd of engaging in petty retaliatory politics that are wasting valuable resources.

“I think that this unnecessary audit will result in an incredible waste of staff hours, for both the Controller’s office and my office. While I intend to fully cooperate with the audit, clearly this was done in retaliation,” Adachi said.

Adachi, whose office is contending with a dramatic increase in representation of defendants facing serious criminal charges, previously renewed a request to fill two paralegal positions that were vacated last year.

Adachi submitted justifications showing that paralegals were necessary to perform work that would otherwise have to be handled by lawyers at a higher cost. The paralegal positions were approved in his 2008-2009 fiscal year budget, but were subsequently disallowed by the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Finance Committee and the Mayor’s Office.

According to Adachi, the cost of hiring two paralegals is $50,000. He told the supervisors’ committee that if he didn’t receive the paralegal support, he would be forced to stop taking new cases, likely costing the county between $500,000-$1,000,000 to hire private lawyers for indigent criminal defendants over the next year.

After a hearing, in which Elsbernd criticized Adachi, the supervisor sent a letter to Controller Ben Rosenfield to request an audit of the Public Defender’s Office covering 10 years.

The inquiry also requires comparisons to public defender offices in other California counties, including Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Los Angeles, and reveals what Adachi considers an “utter lack of regard for how the criminal justice system functions.”

“Supervisor Elsbernd wants to examine the dispositions of every misdemeanor and felony case public defenders have handled over the past decade, some 200,000 cases. And comparisons to counties such as Los Angeles, which has 39 public defender offices and serves a population of nearly 10 million, are patently absurd. It’s even more ridiculous that he would ask the City to spend tens of thousands of dollars on it,” Adachi said.

In the meantime, Adachi has already instructed his staff to begin compiling the requested information. “I’ve always had a good working relationship with the Controller and am happy to cooperate with him,” he said.

However, the Public Defender is concerned that the audit may require the use of resources that should be focused on providing legal representation to poor people.

“Supervisor Elsbernd unfairly accuses me of not being able to manage my budget. In fact, I am part of a taskforce of criminal justice agencies working with the Controller’s office to save San Francisco millions of dollars by making the court system more efficient,” Adachi said. “I would much rather be working on how to save the county millions instead of wasting my staff’s time responding to the audit.”

The mission of the Public Defender’s office is to provide vigorous, effective, competent and ethical legal representation to persons who are accused of crime and cannot afford to hire an attorney. Established in 1921, the San Francisco Public Defender has a long, proud history of providing top-notch representation to its clients, and championing programs that help people turn their lives around.

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San Francisco, CA – On February 2, 2009, Henry Hernandez, a former gang member named to the Mission gang injunction list, was convicted of violating the terms of the injunction.

The Mission gang injunction prohibits named individuals from loitering after 10:00 p.m. and associating in public with known Norteño gang members within a specified area. However, the terms of the injunction do not explain how knowledge of Norteño gang membership is determined.

Hernandez, 21, was accused of standing with four people who are not named in the gang injunction, but who prosecutors claimed were gang members. During trial, Deputy Public Defender Maria Lopez argued that Hernandez, who is not an active gang member, had no way of knowing if the people he was allegedly seen standing with were gang involved.

“There is no way for a single person to know the identity of every gang member in the Mission. How can we punish a person for standing with people he has no reason to believe he is prohibited from associating with?” said Deputy Public Defender Lopez.

Until his arrest, Hernandez was working full time, was in the process of enrolling in City College, and had begun the process of tattoo removal with the Second Chance Tattoo Removal Program.

“Henry Hernandez was doing everything right. He was going to school and working. Now, instead of receiving praise for his efforts to avoid the gang lifestyle, he might be sent to jail,” said Hernandez’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Maria Lopez.

On December 18, 2008 at 11:35 p.m., Hernandez left the Precita Mission Neighborhood Center Safe Haven Program, located about six blocks away from his home. At approximately 11:44 p.m., he was arrested by police officers one and a half blocks away from his apartment building, situated within the gang injunction zone. He was charged with loitering after 10:00 p.m. in violation of the terms of the gang injunction.

Later the District Attorney’s Office added an additional charge of violating the injunction after police alleged that they saw Hernandez standing in a circle with six other people that night, four of who the district attorney sought to prove were gang members. The police did not recognize any of the individuals as gang members. None of the individuals had criminal convictions and none were listed on the gang injunction.

“Several jurors were visibly distraught after being required to find Henry technically guilty of violating the injunction. One of the jurors even apologized to him after the verdict was read,” said Deputy Public Defender Lopez.

The jury deliberated for two days before convicting Hernandez. This was the first gang injunction case tried by the Public Defender’s Office.

The mission of the Public Defender’s office is to provide vigorous, effective, competent and ethical legal representation to persons who are accused of crime and cannot afford to hire an attorney. Established in 1921, the San Francisco Public Defender has a long, proud history of providing top-notch representation to its clients, and championing programs that help people turn their lives around.

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San Francisco, CA – On January 28, 2009, San Francisco resident Tammy Kaake, 47, was acquitted of possession of methamphetamine for sale in violation of California Penal Code section 11378.

In April 2006, Kaake was detained by San Francisco Police Officers Peter Richardson and Michael Moody after a supposed informant reported that Kaake was going to make a drug delivery. According to Kaake, an admitted methamphetamine addict, police searched her car without a warrant and found a digital scale, eight empty baggies, and 15 grams of methamphetamine in a CD case, which she explained was for personal use. The arresting officers testified that they recovered these items from Kaake’s pocket.

“Interestingly, the district attorney argued to the jury that the only way they could acquit my client was if they believed that all of the officers were lying. I guess the jury didn’t have a problem with that,” said Kaake’s lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Eric Luce.

Kaake denied selling drugs and testified in graphic detail to her tragic history of drug use and addiction, which began in the fifth grade. The District Attorney’s Office never produced the informant and all of the evidence taken from Kaake at the time of arrest was disposed of by the police department prior to trial.

The jury acquitted Kaake after two hours of deliberation. Kaake faced up to three years in prison if convicted.

The mission of the Public Defender’s office is to provide vigorous, effective, competent and ethical legal representation to persons who are accused of crime and cannot afford to hire an attorney. Established in 1921, the San Francisco Public Defender has a long, proud history of providing top-notch representation to its clients, and championing programs that help people turn their lives around.

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San Francisco, CA – On Monday, January 5, 2009, Jeremy Womack, 30, was acquitted of battery on a partner and battery on a partner causing a traumatic injury after forty-five minutes of jury deliberation.

Womack was arrested on November 11, 2008 after police officers responded to a call of domestic violence. Womack contended that his partner, Benjamin Schalit, 50, pulled a knife on him during an argument. Womack attempted to wrestle the knife away from Schalit, biting him on the forehead in the process.

Deputy Public Defender Anne Irwin took the case to trial on a theory of self-defense. Womack, who testified on his own behalf, explained to the jury that he was subjected to emotional and physical abuse at the hands of Schalit for a nearly a year and a half. Records of calls to 911 and medical reports confirmed his history of victimization.

According to Deputy Public Defender Irwin, “The police officers who responded to this incident were not equipped to make an accurate assessment of the situation. Because this was a same-sex couple, the officers could not rely on stereotypical gender roles to identify the victim and the aggressor. This case speaks to the larger issue of the inadequate training received by officers who respond to incidents of domestic violence that involve same-sex couples.”

Womack faced up to a year in jail if convicted.

The mission of the Public Defender’s office is to provide vigorous, effective, competent and ethical legal representation to persons who are accused of crime and cannot afford to hire an attorney. Established in 1921, the San Francisco Public Defender has a long, proud history of providing top-notch representation to its clients, and championing programs that help people turn their lives around.

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San Francisco, CA – Teresa Sheehan, 56, was acquitted today of one count of making criminal threats. The jury hung 11-1 in favor of finding her not guilty of two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of assault on a peace officer. Sheehan, who suffers from schizo-affective disorder, was shot six times by San Francisco police officers during the incident that resulted in her arrest and prosecution.

On the morning of August 7, 2008 police officers entered Sheehan’s apartment in a Mission District supportive housing facility after being summoned by a case manager who was concerned about her deteriorating mental health. Officer Kathleen Holder and Sergeant Kimberly Reynolds were the first to arrive at Sheehan’s apartment. According to Sheehan’s Deputy Public Defender Kleigh Hathaway, the officers unlawfully entered the apartment without consent and in the absence of exigent circumstances. The officers reported that Sheehan responded to their entry by raising a knife and making threats. Rather than attempting to subdue Sheehan with non-lethal force, the officers opened fired on Sheehan. Sheehan was shot six times to her torso, hip, face, and arm, leaving Sheehan without use of her right arm and temporarily confined to a wheelchair. Officer Holder testified that Sheehan was on the ground when the last shot was fired into her face.

Sheehan was hospitalized until August 22, when she was transferred to San Francisco County Jail. Due to medical complications attributed to one of her injuries, she was readmitted to San Francisco General Hospital on September 19 where she has been held on $200,000 bail.

In closing arguments, Deputy Public Defender Hathaway described the prosecution of this case as “an attempt to cover up disgraceful policing.” Hathaway argued that police used excessive force and ignored standard protocol on how to respond to the mentally ill.

The mission of the Public Defender’s office is to provide vigorous, effective, competent and ethical legal representation to persons who are accused of crime and cannot afford to hire an attorney. Established in 1921, the San Francisco Public Defender has a long, proud history of providing top-notch representation to its clients, and championing programs that help people turn their lives around.

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San Francisco, CA – On December 3, 2008, after two and a half hours of deliberation, Cristino Ortiz, 42, was acquitted of three counts of lewd acts on a child under 14.

Ortiz was the live-in boyfriend of the mother of two girls, aged 11 and 12. On the day of the incident in question, the girls were completing cleaning chores when the 11 year old became irritated at Ortiz because he wanted to cook in the kitchen. He hugged her and apparently that hug was misinterpreted. The child reported to her mother that Ortiz had touched her inappropriately. Her sister, who witnessed the incident, also told her mother that Ortiz had touched her inappropriately.

Ortiz consistently denied any impropriety when confronted by the mother and later by the police. He willingly went to the police station and made a video recorded statement in which he denied any wrongdoing. Based on the statements of the two girls, Ortiz was arrested and charged with one count of violating Penal Code Section 288(a), committing a lewd act on a child under 14, and two counts of violating Penal Code Section 288(b)(1), committing a lewd act on a child under 14 with force. If convicted, Ortiz faced life in prison.

At trial, Deputy Public Defender Stephen Rosen exposed the numerous contradictions of the girls’ statements, specifically the inconsistencies between what the girls said Ortiz did to them and what they claimed to have seen him do to each other. After a trial that took nearly three and a half weeks to complete, the jury acquitted Ortiz of all counts in two and a half hours.

The mission of the Public Defender’s office is to provide vigorous, effective, competent and ethical legal representation to persons who are accused of crime and cannot afford to hire an attorney. Established in 1921, the San Francisco Public Defender has a long, proud history of providing top-notch representation to its clients, and championing programs that help people turn their lives around.

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San Francisco, CA – On Wednesday, November 19, Redai Meresa was found not guilty of misdemeanor grand theft after 40 minutes of jury deliberation.

After working his typical ten hour day, Redai Meresa was headed home when he attempted to help a seemingly poor, homeless man with an alcohol problem. The man had $30 protruding from his left breast pocket. Mr. Meresa believed that the man needed assistance and warned him, “Your money . . . you shouldn’t drink so much.” The man grunted and did not put his money away. Mr. Meresa repeated, “Your money, your money.” Suddenly, the apparently intoxicated man pushed Mr. Meresa away and Mr. Meresa instinctively pushed back. Four cops then swept in and arrested Mr. Meresa.

The ostensibly drunk man in tattered clothing with money dangling from his pocket was undercover San Francisco Police Officer John Conway – the lead officer in the Robbery Abatement Team’s (RAT) decoy operation. The $30 hanging from Officer Conway’s pocket was meant to serve as bait to trap potential thieves and pickpockets. In typical fashion, RAT conducted its operation on the corner of Turk and Taylor Streets, in front of the Oshun House homeless shelter.

Mr. Meresa was represented by Deputy Public Defender Sandy Feinland. If convicted, he faced up to one year in county jail. According to Deputy Public Defender Feinland, after trial several jurors expressed disgust with the waste of resources dedicated to the practice of RAT stings. Officer Conway was one of twelve officers involved in the RAT operation; the other eleven stood nearby waiting to make an arrest. “Overtime is available,” Officer Conway testified. He made $148,000 last year, $44,000 in overtime.

The mission of the Public Defender’s office is to provide vigorous, effective, competent and ethical legal representation to persons who are accused of crime and cannot afford to hire an attorney. Established in 1921, the San Francisco Public Defender has a long, proud history of providing top-notch representation to its clients, and championing programs that help people turn their lives around.

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