Phuc Van Le, 44, was acquitted of murder Thursday after testifying that he brandished a kitchen knife to ward off two men who refused to leave his apartment in the early morning of Feb. 6, 2010, the Public Defender’s Office said.“This is a case of a man who was forced to defend himself against a pair of assailants who attacked him with broken bottles,” Le’s attorney, Manohar Raju, said in a statement. Read More
Public Defender Jeff Adachi will be allowed to use his name and image on election materials promoting his Proposition D pension measure after all. Within 24 hours, the Ethics Commission reversed its decision on the rules, after saying Adachi is prohibited from using his image and name on the pension measure materials because he was also running for mayor. Read More
Defense attorneys Wednesday unveiled another surveillance video that they say shows undercover police officers conducting an illegal search, this time in the Richmond District.
Private attorney Robert Amparan said at a news conference Wednesday at Public Defender Jeff Adachi’s office that a judge had just thrown out his client’s felony marijuana possession for sale case because video evidence contradicted the officers’ testimony in court and statements on the police report. Read More
Prosecutors have dismissed 68 criminal cases in connection with the ongoing investigation into a plainclothes unit accused of illegal searches during drug raids and falsifying police reports, a spokesman said Monday.District Attorney’s Office spokesman Seth Steward said the 68 cases dismissed as of Friday constituted the majority of the open cases involving the unit that his office would dismiss. Read More
San Francisco Police Department Chief Jeff Godown said Friday that officers will continue the common practice of using master keys to enter residential hotel rooms for searches, despite Public Defender Jeff Adachi’s request that they stop. Read More
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and his office will not investigate alleged misconduct by eight police officer that was brought to light by surveillance footage. Read More
Word around the Hall of Justice is that District Attorney George Gascón lunched today with attorneys at Public Defender Jeff Adachi’s office around the corner, according to a source close to the lunch. Read More
The trial of a man accused in the 2006 fatal bludgeoning of his former lover and roommate ended with a hung jury Wednesday, likely sending the already previously tried case back to trial a third time. Read More
Six officers accused this week by the Public Defender’s Office of conducting warrantless searches of residential hotel rooms are already falling victim to San Francisco’s political grindstone. Read More
UPDATE: Click here to see surveillance video taken during two drug busts at the Henry Hotel on Dec. 23 and Jan. 5 that San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi says proves police misconduct and perjury. Read More
