News and Press Releases

Impact Justice and the SF Public Defender's Office announced the launch of the Homecoming Project in San Francisco. The Homecoming Project pairs people who are recently released from prison with hosts in the community who can offer a spare room in their home for six months.

A San Francisco jury has acquitted 29-year-old Wyatt Johnson, who was arrested in a multi-agency law enforcement raid at Jefferson Park on Feb. 26. The jury unanimously acquitted him of all charges on Oct. 22.

Deputy Public Defender Nuha Abusamra showed a judge SFPD body-worn camera footage, which revealed that SFPD officers had put hands on Leal before he even had a chance to respond to a verbal command. On Oct. 29, a San Francisco judge dismissed charges against Luis Leal, 29, who was arrested on June 8 in front of the immigration courthouse at 100...

In May 2025, the Public Defender’s Office alerted the Court that we would be declaring unavailable one day per week in misdemeanor cases and select felony matters. This decision reflected the fact that our caseloads far exceeded those of our peers in the Bay Area as well as prevailing caseload standards from the American Bar Association. Even with taking this...

The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, along with Californians for Safety and Justice—co-sponsors of AB 321, the Better Informed Decisions (BID) Act—are celebrating that California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 321 into law on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. This bill, authored by Assemblymember Nick Schultz (D-Burbank), ensures that judges in the state’s criminal courts have more of an opportunity to review...