"We've known for months there's been an untenable status quo, where a deluge of misdemeanor cases from the ongoing fentanyl and blight crackdowns have strained the Public Defender's Office's ability to take new cases. This seems to have come to a boil this week, as KTVU reported Tuesday that the SF Superior Court declared it would release some defendants who have not yet stood trial. SF Public Defender Mano Raju blamed this on the SF District Attorney's Office bringing too many frivolous and unsubstantiated cases."
"Jenkins blasted the decision, telling KQED that What is new is that the court has become complicit in this by now stating that they are going to release potentially dangerous and violent felons back into the community because of what's happening. KQED ran the numbers, though, and found that Jenkins's office filed 8,000 cases in 2024, compared to some 5,600 in the last full year of the Chesa Boudin administration."
San Francisco courts have begun releasing some pretrial defendants because the Public Defender's Office lacks capacity to take all new cases. A surge in misdemeanor prosecutions under District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, driven by fentanyl and blight crackdowns, has overwhelmed defense resources. The SF Controller's Office will audit the increase in criminal filings. The Public Defender blames frivolous and unsubstantiated charges from the District Attorney's Office. The District Attorney counters that more cases reflect increased filings, noting 8,000 cases in 2024 versus about 5,600 previously, and that conviction and diversion rates remain proportionately similar. The San Francisco Bar Association and other defenders report being overwhelmed.
Read at sfist.com
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