SF Public Defender’s Office Wins NACDL “Champion of Public Defense” Award We are proud to announce that the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (or NACDL) has chosen our office for a Champion of Public Defense Award for our “exceptional efforts in making positive changes to a local, state, or federal public defense system,” according...Read More

San Francisco man acquitted in bar brawl A man who was caring for his ill girlfriend at a bar on Cinco de Mayo when he accidentally struck someone was acquitted of assault and battery charges today after a jury found no proof that he committed a crime, Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today. John Chmiola,...Read More

MEET YOUR PUBLIC DEFENDER San Francisco—Members of the Bay View/Hunter’s Point community are invited to get to know Public Defender Jeff Adachi and his staff on Saturday at our “Meet Your Public Defender” event. “This is a chance for us to meet people from the community and answer any questions they might have about the...Read More

San Francisco, CA— A woman who defended herself against a physical assault had her case dismissed after the trial ended in a hung jury, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.  Mae Richardson, 56, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest, stemming from an incident that...Read More

SF Public Defender, immigrant rights groups escalate legal pressure on Trump admin as anger over abrupt transfers mounts. San Francisco – Local immigration attorneys filed a flurry of “Habeas Corpus” petitions in federal district court today, seeking the release of 10 people arbitrarily transferred last week from the West County Detention Facility in Richmond to...Read More

Jurors deliberating in five separate felony trials returned with five acquittals in a single afternoon, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.Read More

San Francisco—An innovative pilot program through the San Francisco Public Defender’s office has saved nearly a million dollars of taxpayer money and thousands of jail beds during its first five months of operation, according to a study released today by the California Policy Lab at University of California Berkeley. The Pretrial Release Unit (PRU), staffed...Read More

Matt Gonzalez and Francisco Ugarte, whose client Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was acquitted of murder following a high profile trial last year, have been named Defenders of the Year by the California Public Defenders Association.Read More

A police officer of Afghan descent alleges he is the target of retaliation after reporting racial and religious discrimination at the hands of his San Francisco Police Department colleagues, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.Read More

A federal judge this week ordered authorities to immediately free a homeless man from jail after he was repeatedly denied a constitutionally adequate bail hearing in San Francisco Superior Court.Read More