News and Press Releases

By Tim Redmond – November 19, 2019 – 48Hills.org Four years in prison — for driving without a license? Oakland man arrested in SF faces long prison term — despite a jury finding him not guilty of two felonies. If you want to get a sense of what’s wrong with the criminal justice system in San Francisco, take a look...

SAN FRANCISCO – On Friday, November 15, 2019, a jury found Carlos Gordon not guilty on all counts of assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats, and a misdemeanor assault. The jury agreed with the defense that Mr. Gordon’s act of tossing a few decorative pebbles in the direction of a construction worker was not a crime, but rather...

SAN FRANCISCO – On Tuesday, November 12, 2019, a jury acquitted a homeless man of two felony charges after police pulled him over at gunpoint for riding a stolen motorcycle on Division Street and San Bruno Avenue at 6pm on June 26, 2019. However, he may still serve four years in prison for driving without a license. Charles Mabrey, 50,...

SF’s failed ‘War on Drugs’ needs innovation to transform the status quo by Hadi Razzaq, Managing Attorney for the Investigation Unit of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office San Francisco has historically responded to street-level drug activity in the same way: periodically cracking down on low-level drug sellers by ramping up policing. But arresting and imprisoning people who sell drugs...

Op Ed by Danielle Harris – Director of Public Integrity for the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office Published by the San Francisco Examiner on September 13, 2019 Our mental health crisis is not a tragedy waiting to happen, as some would have it. The tragedies are happening, have happened, and continue to happen. They are stacking up one on top of...