Brian Buckelew

Paintball Rampage: Expect Charges of Possessing Paintball Guns to Be Tossed

A quartet of young men who allegedly decided to paint the town -- and its residents -- red via paintball attacks are in a world of pain right now. The alleged shooters are facing charges ranging from assault with a deadly weapon to felony mayhem following a weekend rampage in which at least three pe ... More >>

Banana-Sam's Brethren: Other Memorable Human-Zoo Creature Interactions

​The disappearance -- and all-too-convenient return -- of purloined San Francisco Zoo squirrel monkey Banana-Sam turned the eyes of the world toward San Francisco and its simian population. It seems the 2-pound monkey is unharmed after an unscheduled captivity amid his regular captivity. All's wel ... More >>

Hate Expectations: Police and Prosecutors Are Quick to Claim the Presence of Racism — but Juries Are Not So Sure

New Hamsterdam: A silver lining in S.F.'s crime-lab fiasco?

Teacher Accused Of Lewd Acts Is A Hit With Students Online

Accused of doing more than teaching music...​A Visitacion Valley Middle School music teacher is accused of being the teacher from hell for three students whom prosecutors allege he touched and invited over to his residence. But in cyberspace, kids love him. On ratemyteachers.com, Terry Braye is cu ... More >>

Spokesman For Embattled DA Kamala Harris: I'm Outta Here

We won't have Brian Buckelew to kick around anymore ... unless we're judges and juries​After answering media queries on former crime lab tech Deborah Madden and her cohorts snorting the evidence and, ahem, some rather critical media coverage, the spokesman for embattled District Attorney Kamala Ha ... More >>

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.

Crime-lab fiasco led to alleged drug dealers being freed

Drug Policy: SFPD's buy-bust operations a costly flop

Drug-Skimming Crime Lab Tech Deborah Madden Now Attorney General's Problem

The party at the SFPD drug lab may soon be over​The California Attorney General's office will handle any criminal charges filed against former San Francisco crime-lab technician Deborah Madden for her alleged role in tampering with narcotics evidence, District Attorney Kamala Harris announced toda ... More >>

The Many Faces of Dr. Syed

A phony dermatologist misdiagnosed patients and stuck them with needles. It took four years for the medical board to figure it out.

Prosecution Witness Unable To Testify Because He Was 'Covered in Feces'

Is No. 2 a reason to take the fifth?​As SF Weekly wrote last week, the district attorney's office and public defenders actually agree on one thing: Ian Sedigh, a phlebotomist contracted with the police to take blood from DUI suspects, is a cause for concern. The public defender has complained abou ... More >>

Blood Simple: Plebotomist goes for the neck

To Catch A Bike Thief: Mission Police Snag 51-Year-Old Woman In Sting

'Fuck off, kid. This is my bike. Try and take it and I'll dust you.' ​The police have discovered the face of the city's bike thieves, and it belongs to a 51-year-old transient named Crystal. Don't laugh. If you mess with her, she'll "dust you." This all started with Malcolm McMahon, a City College ... More >>

Alleged Child Rapist Prof Kenneth Kyle Misses Arraignment -- For Good Reason

Kenneth Kyle​Cal State East Bay Professor Kenneth Kyle, facing a pair of child porn-related  charges, skipped his scheduled arraignment yesterday morning. A no-bail bench warrant was issued for his arrest -- but that's probably the least of his worries. On Wednesday, St. Louis County (Missour ... More >>

Jury Acquits Road-Raging Motorist Who Stabbed Police Officer

​A San Francisco jury today acquitted a San Mateo man who stabbed an off-duty police officer in the city's Haight neighborhood during a "road-rage" incident.Nicholas Batchelor, a 28-year-old grocery store manager, was found not guilty on an array of charges -- including assault with a deadly weapo ... More >>

S.F. Medical Pot Growers Smoked District Attorney

Behold -- medical marijuana exists. Someone tell the DA. ​Medical marijuana is not a novel concept for most San Franciscans, but it's still beyond the pale for jurists and barristers: Until this spring, a medical marijuana cultivation case had not been brought to trial in San Francisco. That "firs ... More >>

S.F. Jury Buys Story of Meth-Addled Serial Thief Who Says He Was Just Good Samaritan

Hey, sometimes things aren't as they seem...​Men and women are doubtless acquitted of auto burglary in cities across the U.S. every day. But we're guessing that few do so based on such marvelous exculpatory stories as 28-year-old San Francisco resident Weston Reynolds.Yesterday afternoon, Reynolds ... More >>

Stalker threatens D.A. (an opponent of the death penalty) with the electric chair

DA Announces Sweeping Broke Niggas Thievin' Gang Indictment

​District Attorney Kamala Harris announced today that 10 members and associates of the notorious Bayview street gang known as Broke Niggas Thievin' have been indicted by a San Francisco criminal grand jury for dozens of felonies, including three murder charges.The indictment came after three month ... More >>

Medical marijuana growers score a defense

Reality TV Contestant Jamal Trulove Found Guilty of Murder

Jamal Trulove, who enjoyed a brief bout of celebrity as an unsuccessful contestant on the VH1 reality TV show I Love New York 2 in 2007, was found guilty of first-degree murder in San Francisco Superior Court this afternoon.Jamal Trulove, a.k.a. 'Milliown'​Trulove, known on the show as "Milliown," ... More >>

DA Announces Charges Against Two Suspects in Weekend Murders

The suspects in two high-profile killings last weekend will be arraigned on charges of murder tomorrow morning in San Francisco Superior Court, according to the office of District Attorney Kamala Harris.​Keandre Davis, 20, will face three charges related to a shooting outside the Suede nightclub o ... More >>

Faux S.F. Doctor Timothy Andersson Hit With 51 Felonies for 'Dangerous and Unecessary' Procedures

​ He had no license to practice medicine in California or the United States, and no affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco, as he claimed. But 66-year-old Timothy Andersson (who also went by Dr. Tanweer Ahmad Syed) saw scores of patients in ... More >>

Three Bay Rider Motorcyclists Charged With Attempted Murder and Gang Allegations In Broadway Stabbing

​Three supposed members of the Bay Riders, a motorcycle club that police say is an affiliate of the Hells Angels, have been charged with assault and gang enhancements after one allegedly stabbed a victim during a brawl on Broadway Street in December. This is the first San Francisco case to br ... More >>

Catch and release: Did the SFPD lose track of a star witness?

Grand Jury Wanted Further Probe of Defense Lawyer in Witness Intimidation Case

In today's print issue of SF Weekly, we report on suggestions in previously unreleased court documents that San Francisco police officers lost track of an important attempted-murder witness while trying to scrounge up dirt on a private investigator. But the cops' use of questionable spy games agains ... More >>

Kamala Harris Hasn't Made Friends With S.F. Cops -- But That May Not Cost Her in the End

Kamala Harris​In many American towns, the debate over the merits of Chevy or Ford pickup trucks is no laughing matter. In a nerdier milieu -- one less likely to cause a bar fight at least -- Apple and PC partisans snipe at each other smarmily. And here in San Francisco, we have our own endless, ta ... More >>

Murder Most Foul Update: DA To Decide On Charges Tuesday For Alleged Tenderloin Killer

View Larger MapRepresentatives of the District Attorney's office will meet with homicide inspectors Tuesday to decide on charges for Patrick Sullivan, 46, the alleged knife-wielding killer responsible for the death of a San Francisco man this morning. The police arrested Sullivan in the wee hours at ... More >>

Murder Charge for Suspect in Pizzeria Stabbing

The office of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris announced this afternoon that a Hercules woman suspected of stabbing a Nob Hill pizzeria worker to death has been charged with murder.​Maryam Achekzai, 25, has a violent history and has spent time in state prison, the San Francisco Chroni ... More >>

Breaking: Prominent S.F. Private Investigator Indicted For Allegedly Scaring Off Witness

A San Francisco private investigator who works with criminal defense attorneys has been indicted on a felony count of dissuading a witness, a charge stemming from his alleged efforts to scare off a star witness in an attempted murder case last month.Steve Vender, in a 2007 SF Weekly photograph​Ste ... More >>

Bike vigilantes: Victims strike back

Court Window Opens For Alleged Defenestrator

​Tregg Smith, the man accused of tossing his drinking buddy out of a fifth-story window, will be back in court this morning. The 40-year-old has told police that he was only giving his 32-year-old friend a jocular slap last month -- but did so while the man in question was sitting on the ledge of ... More >>

Hearing Tomorrow On Whether Alleged Dog-Killer's Case To Be Heard in Behavioral Health Court

Joseph Byrnes​A determination could come as soon as tomorrow on whether accused dog-killer Joseph Byrnes' case will be heard in Behavioral Health Court or regular criminal court. The San Francisco artist and musician is accused of axing his pit bull, Nickel, to death on Aug. 9 in a Bernal He ... More >>

Accused Dog Killer May Be Headed to Behavioral Health Court

Joseph Byrnes​We've been following the sad tale of Joseph Byrnes, a San Francisco musician accused of hacking his pit bull to death in a Bernal Heights church. Back on Aug. 9, witnesses saw Byrnes striking his dog, Nickel, with a hatchet outside the Immaculate Conception Church. When police entere ... More >>

Alleged Defenestrator: It Was a Horrible Accident

​The man accused of pushing his drinking buddy out of a fifth-story window in what police and the District Attorney call an attempted homicide had his day in court yesterday -- and many more appear to be on the docket. Tregg Smith, 40, has told police that he didn't mean to push his 32-year-old pa ... More >>

Grizzly Grotto Trial Had it All -- Even Tyson Beckford

When the voice of Tyson Beckford penetrates your head and tells you to enter a dangerous animal's zoo cage, things have become interesting​There's a fine line between bizarre and transcendentally bizarre, and the just-concluded court trial of Kenneth Herron blazed over it. Herron is the man who, f ... More >>

Once a joke, SFPD is actually solving murders these days

Alleged Dog Slaughterer's Motion Denied, Case Headed Toward Trial

Joseph Byrnes​The San Francisco musician accused of hacking his beloved pit bull to death with an axe while nude in a Catholic church was yesterday denied in his bid to dismiss all charges and could face a jury of his peers perhaps as soon as December. Joseph Byrnes was arrested in August after wi ... More >>

Jury Convicts Attempted Murderer Despite Disappearance of Victim Allegedly Scared Off By Private Investigator

​A San Francisco jury convicted Phil Pitney, 19, of attempted murder Thursday, even after the victim he shot at was a no-show for the entire trial -- apparently because he was threatened by the defense attorney's investigator.The Chron reported last week that Steve Vender, a private investigator w ... More >>

Alleged Witness Intimidator in 'Bamm-Bamm Bling' Murder Case Charged with Violating Probation

One of the alleged gang members arrested outside a San Francisco courtroom for what the the District Attorney's office describes as an act of witness intimidation has been charged with violating the terms of his probation on a past felony conviction. He could return to prison as a result, the man's ... More >>

Court Date Next Week For Man Accused of Hacking Dog to Death in San Francisco Church

Joseph Byrnes​SF Weekly has documented the strange and sad saga of Joseph Byrnes, the San Francisco musician charged in August with hacking his dog to death with an axe in Bernal Heights' Immaculate Conception Church. Police claim they found Byrnes nude and slathered in the blood of his pit bull, ... More >>

Police declare air guns illegal; S.F. public defender, D.A., and state law disagree

Stay Away ... Please

Can cops keep an accused drug dealer from roaming the Tenderloin?