OLD_San Francisco Public Defender's Office

San Francisco, CA – San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi will be honored alongside two San Francisco community leaders on Thursday, December 6 at the Fifth Annual Cheyenne Bell Leadership Awards Ceremony, hosted by The Center for Young Women’s Development.  Jeff Adachi, Tinisch Hollins and Ida McCray will be presented with an award recognizing their individual work benefiting young people and their families in the juvenile justice and adult criminal system.  California Senator Carole Migden and California State Assemblymember Mark Leno will be in attendance to recognize this year’s recipients.  The ceremony will take place at Hotel Whitcomb, 1231 Market Street at 6:00 p.m.
 
Public Defender Adachi manages an office with a $23.7 million dollar budget, which provides a variety of innovative programs to its clients including drug court, clean slate expungement services and a full-service juvenile division.  He is the co-founder of MAGIC, a collaboration of youth and family agencies that work with disadvantaged youth, which began in Bayview Hunters Point in 2004 and was expanded into the Western Addition in 2006.  Adachi is also co-chairman of the San Francisco Safe Communities Re-entry Council, a collaborative of over 50 government agencies, community and faith-based organizations and individuals committed to providing effective reentry services to formerly incarcerated people. 

Each year The Center for Young Women’s Development honors the memory of Cheyenne Bell, a long time community activist and civil rights leader.  For 10 years as Director of Community Programs at San Francisco’s juvenile hall, Bell’s foresight brought in non-profit organizations such as CYWD in an effort to offer hope, educational opportunities and services for at-risk youth.  Bell passed away in 2005 and in tribute to her legacy, each year CYWD honors individuals who work with and on behalf of those who work to improve the condition of the juvenile and adult justice system for young women and men in the Bay Area.

“Cheyenne Bell was an incredible inspiration and role model to me. I am honored to receive this award in her name,” says Public Defender Jeff Adachi. “The Center for Young Women’s Development is a model program that employs and mentors young women who have been through the juvenile justice system and experienced poverty, and are committed to transforming their lives and communities. I have witnessed the effectiveness of their work and am inspired by their achievements.”

To learn more about the Center for Young Women’s Development you may visit their website at http://www.cywd.org/.

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 – The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office is proud the announce the recipients of the 2007 Gideon Award: Nina Wilder, Eileen Burke and Christopher Gauger. The Gideon Award is presented annually by the Public Defender’s Office to members of the criminal defense bar, both public and private, in honor of their commitment to excellent criminal defense.

The Gideon Award is named in honor of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, decided in 1963, which first articulated the right to appointed counsel in felony cases. The award will be presented during the Public Defender’s Office Annual Holiday Party at 5:30 p.m. on December 5, 2007.

According to Public Defender Jeff Adachi, “Nina, Eileen and Chris each embody the attributes to which all criminal defense lawyers aspire – integrity, diligence, and courage. They have distinguished themselves through the consistent high quality of their work and the dedication with which they approach every case and every client.”

Nina Wilder, a partner of Weinberg & Wilder, practices mainly federal criminal defense, including trial, appellate and habeas law. She is on the federal appointment panel in all three areas of practice. Nina also practices forfeiture law at both state and federal levels, and represents taxpayers in administrative and criminal tax proceedings.

Nina recently won a federal habeas petition for a state prisoner, Crossan Hoover, who has served 25 years on a first-degree murder conviction for a crime he committed when he was 17 years old. The ground for granting the habeas petition was prosecutorial misconduct by Marin District Attorney Ed Berberian who was the trial prosecutor. She is attempting to get Crossan released pending the 9th Circuit appeal. Nina currently co-represents capital defendant, Robert Cowan, in his direct appeal to the California Supreme Court.

Nina worked with the Public Defender’s Office, the ACLU, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, and other defense attorneys on the two San Francisco gang injunction lawsuits filed against members of the alleged Oakdale Mob and the Norteño gang.

Nina has been on the faculty of the Stanford Trial Advocacy program since 1999 and has taught Moot Court at Hastings since 2002. Nina is also a former board member and Chair of Women Defenders. Nina is a graduate of New College of California and has an LL.M. in Taxation from Golden Gate University.

Eileen Burke is a solo practitioner in San Francisco whose practice includes criminal defense, civil rights, plaintiff’s personal injury with the group from https://www.bellevuetrialattorney.com/personal-injury-attorneys-bellevue-wa/ and employment discrimination. Eileen has tried over 40 criminal cases to jury, 39 of which resulted in not guilty verdicts, guilty verdicts on minor counts or hung juries that were later dismissed.

Most recently Eileen represented alleged gang member Sala Thorn, who was acquitted of two counts of felony drug trafficking after she exposed the details of a botched four-month investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and destroyed their key informant’s credibility on the stand. In the last three years, Eileen has also tried two murder cases, resulting in acquittals, and a rape case, resulting in acquittal and hung verdicts.

Prior to starting her practice, Eileen gained trial experience as a volunteer with the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. Eileen is a graduate of California State University at Chico and the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Christopher Gauger is the Managing Attorney of the San Francisco Public Defender Research Unit. Hired in 1983, Christopher worked as a Deputy Public Defender for 12 years litigating over 60 trials, including homicide, robbery, sexual assault, and drug possession. Between 1995 and 1998 he specialized in juvenile law, providing representation to youth in criminal proceeding and helping to develop, initiate, and raise funds for SF’s first juvenile drug court.

Most recently Christopher worked with attorneys from the ACLU, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and private counsel in challenging the gang injunction lawsuit filed against members of several alleged Western Addition District gangs. At the preliminary injunction hearing, he represented a 19-year-old woman named in the lawsuit and successfully persuaded the judge not to enjoin her.

Christopher currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Northern California Service League and is a past board member of the San Francisco Juvenile Drug Court. He edited Chapter 53 in California Criminal Law Procedure and Practice, “Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings,” Continuing Education of the Bar, 5th Edition (1999). Christopher is a graduate of UC San Diego and the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Previous recipients of the Gideon Award have included Deputy Public Defender Daro Inouye, Carol Woods, Director of the San Francisco Bar Association Lawyer Referral and Information Service, Tony Serra and Fred Smith, who was honored posthumously.

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 – Last Wednesday, Ronald Brown, a 43-year-old husband and father of three, was acquitted of two counts of resisting arrest and battery on a police officer. The charges stemmed from accusations that he interfered with his stepson’s arrest.

On October 18, 2006, at 1:30am, Brown was awoken by a knock at his door. When he opened the door, Brown saw his 16-year-old stepson being pulled away by Police Officer Marvin Cabuntala. When he asked the officer why he was arresting his stepson, Officer Cabuntala told him that his son was being detained for questioning. Brown repeated his inquiries and followed the officer and stepson onto the sidewalk. Brown was then approached by several other officers, including Officer Christian Berge and Officer Jesse Farrell, and was knocked to the ground and placed in a chokehold.

During trial, the officers involved admitted knocking Brown to the ground and applying a chokehold, but claimed their actions were justified by Brown’s actions. On direct examination, Officer Berge testified that Brown refused to obey another officer’s orders not to interfere with his stepson’s arrest. At one point, Officer Farrell attempted to arrest Brown, who, according to police, physically resisted.

Brown took the stand in his defense and denied resisting arrest or striking any of the officers. The defense also presented evidence that Officer Farrell had engaged a pattern of using force against civilians during arrest and that he had been involved in at least twelve incidents involving force against civilians between 2004 and 2006.

“It was clear that the police officers involved in this case were not truthful on key points of their testimony,” says Deputy Public Defender Peter Santina. “A parent has a right to know why their child is being arrested and where he is being taken. An incident like this would have never happened to white family living in Pacific Heights or Noe Valley.”

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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SFPD Destroys Physical Evidence During Trial; DA Disregards Exculpatory Evidence

San Francisco, CA – San Francisco resident Jerniece Menefee was acquitted of attempted murder and five additional felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon by a San Francisco jury last Friday afternoon. Menefee faced 34 years to life in prison.

On April 11, 2005, the San Francisco Police Department investigated a report of a single shot fired in the Fillmore District. No evidence of a shooting was recovered and no description of the shooter was offered. Four days later, a complaining witness reported to the police that he had found a bullet in his grandfather’s house, located near the scene of the shooting. The police recovered this bullet as evidence of the earlier shooting, although no ballistics tests were ever conducted to confirm its origins.

At trial, Deputy Public Defender Jacque Wilson intended to emphasize the fact that no gun was ever recovered and that there was no evidence of where this particular bullet had come from. However, three days into trial, the bullet that had been recovered two years earlier and secured in an evidence room, was “disposed” of by police. Wilson was not immediately informed that the evidence had been destroyed and, upon learning of it two days later, demanded to know why police had ignored protocol and disposed of physical evidence during trial. The police then searched their trash and found a bullet that the District Attorney’s Office attempted to enter into evidence at trial. Upon Wilson’s objection, Judge Harold Kahn refused to admit the bullet into evidence because there was no reason to believe that the bullet pulled from trash was the same bullet discarded by police or that it was in any way connected to the alleged shooting.

The District Attorney John Zahar’s case rested solely on the testimony of off-duty Sheriff Doug Jones who initially reported hearing a shot and seeing a car, and then months later revised his testimony to identify Menefee as the shooter. However, Deputy Public Defender Wilson submitted evidence that Menefee was at work in El Dorado on the day of the shooting, from 10:30AM to 6:30PM. The shooting occurred at 7:00PM in the Fillmore.

According to Wilson, “Ms. Menefee has spent 20 months behind bars waiting to stand trial in a case where neither the police nor the District Attorney had any evidence of her guilt. In fact, they had no evidence that a crime had even been committed, other than an untested bullet that was intentionally disposed of by police during trial and the uncorroborated testimony of an off-duty Sheriff. I am happy that the jury was able to see through the lies and the deceit in this case and acquit Ms. Menefee. She will never be the same, but at least she will be able to hold her children again.”

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 – Deputy Public Defender Patricia Lee, a 29-year veteran of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, will be honored with the California Wellness Foundation’s 2007 California Peace Prize. The 15th Annual California Peace Prize ceremony will be held in San Francisco on November 14, 2007. In recognition of her efforts to prevent violence and promote peace, Lee will each receive a cash award of $25,000.

Patricia Lee has served as a deputy public defender in San Francisco since 1978 and has practiced in the juvenile courts since 1981. She is currently the managing attorney of the San Francisco Public Defender’s juvenile office, a position she has held since 2001. Lee is also co-director of the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center, which seeks to improve the quality of representation provided by juvenile-delinquency attorneys.

Lee, an advocate of grassroots efforts that support low-income families impacted by the juvenile justice system, is a founding member of BMAGIC (Bayview Mobilization for Adolescent Growth in our Communities). Formed in 2004, BMAGIC is a collaborative of over 50 community-based organizations and government agencies that work to strengthen families, coordinate and improve youth services, and develop and implement strategies to reduce youth violence in Bayview-Hunters Point.

“If you have the right support services, the ability to work with the families, the ability to give a voice to and empower young people from within their own communities, the majority of youth will transition successfully out of the juvenile justice system,” Lee said.

Additionally, Lee has served as a technical advisor to the American Bar Association Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for the Due Process Advocacy Program, a national program, which seeks to increase children’s access to quality counsel in juvenile delinquency proceedings. Lee also established the country’s first placement program for girls who have been victims of exploitation.

Lee serves as the co-chair of the juvenile justice committee of the Asian Youth Advocacy Network. She is a member of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice, and a member of the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee of the Administrative Office of the Courts, Center for Families, Children and the Courts. Lee is also a founding member of the Center for Young Women’s Development and past president of the San Francisco Delinquency Prevention Commission. She has been honored by the National Organization for Women and the Pacific Asian American Women Bay Area Coalition.

A native San Franciscan, Lee received an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a law degree from Lincoln University School of Law.

More information on The California Wellness Foundation Peace Prize can be found here.

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 – Last week, robbery and assault charges against two men were dismissed based, in part, on videotaped evidence from San Francisco crime-surveillance cameras. The videotapes, which were obtained by the Public Defender’s Office, confirmed their alibis that they were elsewhere at the time the crimes were committed. The two men, Neil Butler, 23, and Robert Dillon, 21, were imprisoned for approximately 69 days before the charges were dropped on October 16, 2007.

In the early morning hours of August 6, 2007, two airline workers were assaulted and robbed by three males on the corner of 14th and Mission Streets. Police responded immediately to the victims’ 911 call. The victims described their attackers as African American.

At the time of the incident, several groups of people were standing near 16th and Mission Streets, where four city-owned crime-surveillance cameras are installed. Butler and Dillon, both African American, were spotted by police near the intersection and were arrested on suspicion of the robbery and assault that occurred two blocks away.

Both Butler and Dillon were taken to the Mission Police Station where the victims identified the handcuffed men as their attackers. Butler waived his rights and explained to officers that he had been on 16th and Mission Streets at the time that the robbery took place. The police department conducted no additional investigation to confirm or dispel his alibi. Butler and Dillon were booked for robbery and assault with intent to commit great bodily harm.

At Butler’s first court appearance, a witness informed Butler’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Eric Quandt, that she had been with Butler on 16th and Mission Streets at the time of the robbery and that surveillance cameras might prove this. Quandt called the Department of Emergency Management to request copies of the tapes. However, Quandt’s request was denied, because city policy restricts the release the surveillance tapes to the police department and all tapes are erased after seven days. At Quandt’s request, the Department of Emergency Management agreed not to erase the tapes pending a formal request.

Quandt contacted the SFPD Inspector assigned to the case to inform him of the existence of the tapes and to request a copy. The videotapes proved that Butler and Dillon’s alibis checked out. Quandt informed the prosecutor, who reviewed the tapes and dropped the charges on the day the case was set for trial.

“Throughout the duration of this investigation, my client spent 69 days in jail,” says Deputy Public Defender Quandt. “Had the police checked out the videotapes that they knew were installed on that corner, Mr. Butler’s ordeal could have been avoided completely. Instead, two innocent men spent over two months in jail and the real perpetrators have not been identified.”

Public Defender Jeff Adachi has raised concerns about the city’s policy of destroying crime tapes in seven days and not making them available to the defense. “If San Francisco is going to use crime cameras, crime-surveillance tapes must be made available to the defense. Had my office not requested that the tapes be preserved, evidence of innocence would have been lost. The city’s policy surrounding use of the tapes is dangerously one-sided.”

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 – Chief Attorney Teresa Caffese, the lead defense attorney in the much publicized 2005 LaShuan Harris case, will discuss her trial strategy at the 38th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law this weekend in Miami, Florida. She will join John Gould, M.D., Maguire Correctional Facility, Chief Psychiatrist, in a panel discussion entitled “Debating Religious Belief v. Psychotic Delusion in the Trial of LaShuan Harris.”

Chief Attorney Caffese was extended an invitation to speak at the event after the Academy accepted Dr. Gould’s proposal for presentation. Dr. Gould, a forensic and clinical psychiatrist, was one of the many experts who testified during the Harris trial.

On October 19, 2005, two years ago today, LaShuan Harris made headlines after auditory hallucinations instructed her to throw her three children into the San Francisco Bay. It was her belief that her children would be united with God in heaven. Harris, who had a history of schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations and numerous hospitalizations, was found not guilty of first-degree murder and not guilty by reason of insanity of three second degree murders and three counts of assault causing death to a child.

Chief Attorney Caffese is a graduate of Hastings College of the Law and has worked in the Public Defender’s Office since 1987. During Ms. Caffese’s initial 15-year tenure as Deputy Public Defender, she represented thousands of indigent clients in misdemeanor and felony cases and tried over 75 cases. Prior to being appointed as Chief Attorney, Ms Caffese served as chief of the office’s Investigations Unit and also spent two years in private practice.

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 – The Public Defender’s Office was again able to successfully remove a person from the City Attorney’s gang list, this time in the Western Addition injunction. Makia Johnson was ordered excluded from the Western Addition gang injunction by Superior Court Judge Peter J. Busch. In a 14-page decision, Judge Busch ruled that “the evidence is not sufficient for the Court to conclude that she (Makia Johnson) participates in or acts in concert with the gang.” The decision granting two preliminary injunctions in the Western Addition was issued Thursday afternoon.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera labeled Makia Johnson a member of the alleged Chopper City gang in an injunction lawsuit filed last July in San Francisco Superior Court. To support this claim, City Attorney Herrera presented affidavits from San Francisco Police Officer Davis Do who opined that Johnson was a gang member based on three incidents during which she had been seen in the presence of unidentified alleged gang members. Johnson denied having any gang affiliation from the beginning and no hard evidence of gang affiliation was provided.

Johnson, 19 years old, was raised in the Western Addition District and has many friends and relatives who live there. She is currently participating in the John Muir School/Glide Memorial Church School on Treasure Island with the aim of getting her high school diploma and qualifying to work in the construction industry.

“I am gratified that the court conscientiously reviewed my client’s and a second unrepresented person’s case, finding that they should not be included in the gang injunction,” says Deputy Public Defender Christopher Gauger. “My deeper concern is not judicial – as the court has little choice but to authorize some version of the injunction under current law – but one of policy. This is a proven failed policy that may result in more crime. Although the conditions are to be enforced under the same level of constitutional scrutiny that applies to all law enforcement action, I fear the injunction will invite harassment and confuse law enforcement as to their duty, resulting in intended and unintended harassment.”

The preliminary injunctions will cover two non-coterminous areas totaling 12 square blocks in the Western Addition. Unlike the preliminary gang injunction issued last Monday covering the Mission, there are no prohibitions on color or nighttime loitering.

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 – Public Defender Jeff Adachi announces victory for his client Antonio Buitrago who was ordered excluded from the Mission gang injunction by Superior Court Judge Patrick Mahoney. Judge Mahoney ruled that “the record does not establish by clear and convincing evidence that (Antonio Buitrago) is an active gang member.” The decision granting a preliminary injunction in the Mission was issued last Friday.

Antonio Buitrago was labeled a gang member by City Attorney Dennis Herrera in the Mission District gang injunction lawsuit filed last July in San Francisco Superior Court. To support his claim, City Attorney Herrera presented affidavits of police officers who claimed that Buitrago, a 23-year old native San Franciscan, had been seen in the presence of an alleged gang member at a funeral, once recorded a rap song in which he referenced gang culture, and was shot. In response, Buitrago, who has never been convicted or arrested for a crime, submitted a declaration that his “associations” with alleged gang members involved only non-criminal interactions with his cousin and a childhood friend.

In a letter issued to the City Attorney before the hearing on the preliminary injunction, Public Defender Adachi requested that Buitrago be removed from the list in advance of the court date. Public Defender Adachi also submitted letters of support from Mission District residents and community leader who know Buitrago to be a non-gang member. The City Attorney refused this request.

“A few months ago the City Attorney assured the public that he was ‘extremely careful’ to name the most active known adult gang on his injunction list. Today’s decision proves that non-gang members are still at risk of being permanently branded as criminals,” says Public Defender Adachi. “Antonio should have never had to fight this battle in the first place. There was no evidence to support the City Attorney’s claim that he was a gang member. I am deeply concerned that there are others who couldn’t afford an attorney to fight this injunction, and will now be permanently restricted from conducting legal, innocent behavior in their own neighborhood.”

The scope of the preliminary injunction will cover the entire 60-block area proposed by the City Attorney and prohibits any clothing that contains in whole or in part the color red, with the exception of work uniforms. The curfew that was initially proposed by the City Attorney was denied. Rather, nighttime loitering between the hours of 10:00PM and 5:30PM will be prohibited.

“The City Attorney said that he filed this injunction because he wanted to protect the people who were caught in the crossfire of gang violence,” says Buitrago. “Well, I was caught in that crossfire. I was shot in the back. And yet he used that against me to say that I was a gang member, when I never was. Is this how the City wants to protect people like me?”

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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