A Lack of Conviction

As D.A. Kamala Harris campaigns to be attorney general, her success rate in felony trials has dropped below that of any big-city prosecutor in California.

Comments (0) By Peter Jamison Wednesday, May 5 2010

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"It's more likely to be a problem in the overall structure of case selection and allocation of lawyers than quality of blow-by-blow trial strategy," he said. "When you get down to something like 50 percent, there's something funny going on."

No amount of explanation or analysis will bring much comfort to those who don't see justice done when a prosecution fails. Byron Smith, known as "Beaner" to friends and relatives, is still remembered fondly in the run-down corner of Visitacion Valley he called home. On Sept. 2, 2007, Smith was gunned down in a garage on Velasco Avenue by two men on bicycles.

Mona T. Brooks

Kamala Harris’ 2009 book, Smart on Crime, advocated moving beyond partisan debates on public safety.

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"He started having kids really young. He ended up with five. He was a visible father. He was there," said one of Smith's family members, who requested anonymity because the three men accused of murdering him were acquitted.

The case against Smith's suspected killers — Wilson and Brown — was tough from the start, but prosecutors had a few unusual advantages. Wilson's DNA had been found on one of the bicycles, and bystanders who witnessed various stages of the murder agreed to testify.

Police alleged that Smith had been an active gang leader, his slaying the latest strike in a turf war between the Sunnydale projects' Down Below Gang and Towerside gang. Along with a third man, Floyd Jackson, Wilson and Brown were also charged in the shooting death of Brandon Perkins the previous month. It was widely believed in Visitacion Valley that the three young men who were arrested had been responsible for the murders, according to a longtime neighborhood resident who also requested anonymity. "Even their parents probably don't think they're innocent," the resident said.

In February, all three were acquitted of murder charges and walked out of the Hall of Justice free men. "I'm thinking that the jurors either were threatened or something had to have happened," Smith's relative said. "From my understanding, [the prosecutors] had the guns, they had [the accused], they had witnesses. So what more do you need?"

The family member was particularly frustrated that the witnesses' testimony didn't produce a guilty verdict. "I feel sorry for Byron's wife and kids. But more than that, you know who I feel sorry for? That lady who put her life on the line to come forward and said she saw it. You finally get someone to say something, and you don't even secure a conviction?"

This is why trials, and their outcomes, are central to the proper functioning of the criminal justice system. Prosecutors nationwide take felony trials seriously because they are law enforcement's ultimate proving ground. Failure before a jury disappoints those who seek justice — victims, witnesses, cops — and encourages those who defy it.

In the words of Public Defender Jeff Adachi, a trial is "the ultimate test." Harris has no shortage of political aplomb, and can justifiably point to an arsenal of public safety statistics, from stiffer prison sentences to higher numbers of charges filed, that indicate fronts on which her office is doing well. But this is one test she isn't passing.