News and Press Releases

San Francisco, CA – Justin Desmangles, a member of the North Beach literary community, was acquitted yesterday of rape, attempted sodomy by force, and assault with a deadly weapon. The four-week trial took place before San Francisco Superior Court Judge Jerome Benson. Desmangles, who once hosted jazz and literary radio shows on local station KPOO, published several articles on jazz...

by Jeff Adachi Printed in The Recorder, September 2005. 60 years ago, a black maid named Lena Baker was tried for capital murder in Georgia. She was charged with shooting a white man who had kidnapped her and threatened her with a metal bar. Her trial, presided over by a white judge and 12 white male jurors, lasted less than four...

CBS 5 CrimeWatch  (BCN) SAN FRANCISCO – A 20-year-old Daly City man who spent the last 19 months in county jail on murder charges was set free Tuesday after a San Francisco jury found him not guilty, Deputy Public Defender Mark Jacobs said Wednesday. Read the rest of this story. Read the press release.

San Francisco, CA – A 20-year-old man charged with first-degree murder in a fatal stabbing that occurred during a street brawl was found not guilty yesterday after a four-week trial. The stabbing occurred during a November 2005 melee that erupted in front of a house party in the Oceanview district of San Francisco. The victim had come to the defense...

by Eliza Strickland SF Weekly It’s expensive and time-consuming, but a court can help cure the hard-core homeless problem in San Francisco. Read the rest of this story.