News and Press Releases

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 by two public defenders and...

By Evan Sernoffsky SF Chronicle David, a 76-year-old Vietnam veteran, found himself in San Francisco County Jail in mid-January after a fight with his abusive partner. He had no idea how to get a lawyer, how to get his HIV medication or when he’d even get out. “I had never been to jail and the experience is not too pleasant,”...

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.