Subject:

Criminal Trials

  • Blogs

    April 5, 2012

    Binh Thai Luc Pleads Not Guilty to All Charges of Murdering Ingleside Family

    Binh Thai Luc, the suspect accused of killing five people at an Ingleside home on March 23 appeared in court today where he pleaded not guilty to all charges. Decked out in an orange sweatshirt and orange pants with a chain belt cuffing his hands at his waist, Luc, 35, slowly shook his head as Judg ... More >>

  • News

    December 7, 2011

    DNA Lab Cover-Up: SFPD to Investigate Claims in Secret Court Records

    Binh Thai Luc, the suspect accused of killing five people at an Ingleside home on March 23 appeared in court today where he pleaded not guilty to all charges. Decked out in an orange sweatshirt and orange pants with a chain belt cuffing his hands at his waist, Luc, 35, slowly shook his head as Judg ... More >>

  • News

    November 30, 2011

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

    Binh Thai Luc, the suspect accused of killing five people at an Ingleside home on March 23 appeared in court today where he pleaded not guilty to all charges. Decked out in an orange sweatshirt and orange pants with a chain belt cuffing his hands at his waist, Luc, 35, slowly shook his head as Judg ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 30, 2011

    Roberto Acosta, MS-13 Snitch Convicted of Lying to Government, Seeks New Trial

    The snitch wants a new day in court. ​The MS-13 snitch who provided federal agents with information that led to the mega-indictment of the transnational gang -- and recorded alleged murder confessions that will be allowed as evidence in an upcoming Superior Court trial -- wants a new trial of his ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 28, 2011

    Secret Court Transcript Reveals Concerns About 'Deliberate Attempt' to Mislead Crime Lab Auditors

    ​Judge: "It's always the coverup that makes the things worse than the problem to begin with"The San Francisco Police Department and District Attorney's Office are both implicated in allegations that a deliberate effort was made to conceal defects at the city's troubled forensics lab from state in ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 1, 2011

    DA's Office to Comply with Judges' Orders Unsealing Secret Crime Lab Memo

    Rockne Harmon​A spokesperson for San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said this afternoon that the DA's office will obey an appellate court's ruling that prosecutors disclose a potentially damaging memo on problems with DNA-testing procedures at the San Francisco Police Department crime ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 28, 2011

    State Appeals Court Upholds Judge's Order Unsealing Secret DNA Lab Memo

    ​A panel of state appeals-court judges has upheld a San Francisco Superior Court judge's order last month that District Attorney George Gascón release a secret memo describing problems with DNA analysis at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab.The decision appeared to remove the last barr ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 19, 2011

    DNA Lab Memo at Center of Legal Battle in Gruesome 1976 Murder Case

    AFP/Getty ImagesRockne Harmon​A secret internal memo criticizing DNA analysis procedures at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab has become an issue in prosecutors' efforts to obtain a conviction based on DNA evidence in the grisly rape and murder of a San Francisco woman in 1976.San Fran ... More >>

  • News

    August 24, 2011

    Crime Lab Confidential: DA and SFPD Withheld Damaging Memo About DNA Lab Failings

    AFP/Getty ImagesRockne Harmon​A secret internal memo criticizing DNA analysis procedures at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab has become an issue in prosecutors' efforts to obtain a conviction based on DNA evidence in the grisly rape and murder of a San Francisco woman in 1976.San Fran ... More >>

  • News

    April 27, 2011

    A Rat's Life: MS-13 Snitches Run Wild While Turning State's Evidence

    AFP/Getty ImagesRockne Harmon​A secret internal memo criticizing DNA analysis procedures at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab has become an issue in prosecutors' efforts to obtain a conviction based on DNA evidence in the grisly rape and murder of a San Francisco woman in 1976.San Fran ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 25, 2011

    Maurice Caldwell, Man Wrongfully Convicted of 1990 Murder, to be Set Free

    Maurice Caldwell, almost a free man. ​A man whose 1991 murder conviction was overturned by a San Francisco judge in December will be set free after the district attorney dismissed the charges on Friday. After 20 years in prison, Maurice Caldwell will likely walk out a free man next week. Superior ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 3, 2011

    Prosecutor Apologizes for Handling of Crime Lab DNA Scandal

    ​A prosecutor in the office of District Attorney George Gascón apologized last week to defense lawyers for his failure to turn over potentially exculpatory documents indicating that a mix-up of DNA samples took place at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab in 2008.Assistant District Atto ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 11, 2011

    High-tech Thieves Jury Rigged Gas Pumps to Steal Customers' Identities

    ​A pair of MacGyver-esque identity thieves has pleaded guilty to implanting devices in gas pumps that stole customers' checking-account information, a scheme that state officials say brought in $90,000.The California Attorney General's office announced today that the men -- David Karapetyan and Zh ... More >>

  • News

    December 15, 2010

    SFPD crime lab's DNA evidence could be tainted by concealed mistakes

    ​A pair of MacGyver-esque identity thieves has pleaded guilty to implanting devices in gas pumps that stole customers' checking-account information, a scheme that state officials say brought in $90,000.The California Attorney General's office announced today that the men -- David Karapetyan and Zh ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 9, 2010

    Exclusive: Prosecutor Says DA Is Sitting on His Report Critical of Crime Lab

    Rockne Harmon​DA's Office Denies Memo's Existence, But Prosecutor and DNA Expert Says He Wrote It in MarchOne of the nation's foremost DNA experts says he wrote an in-house report for the San Francisco District Attorney's office criticizing the DNA unit of the San Francisco Police Department Crime ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 3, 2010

    Exclusive: SFPD Concealed DNA Sample Switch at Crime Lab

    ​Records of bungle in 2008 case were destroyed, investigation findsA forensics analyst's error that resulted in a mix-up of DNA samples, reportedly in a homicide case, has been concealed by officials at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab for close to two years, SF Weekly has learned. Th ... More >>

  • News

    November 10, 2010

    Obstruction of Justice

    A kidnapping victim watched his case linger needlessly in court 
for years. In S.F., he has company.

  • News

    October 20, 2010

    Grinding Justice: Operation Streamline Costs Millions, Tramples the Constitution, Treats Migrants Like Cattle, and Doesnít Work

    A kidnapping victim watched his case linger needlessly in court 
for years. In S.F., he has company.

  • Blogs

    September 24, 2010

    Steven Petrilli Found Guilty of Officer Nick-Tomasito Birco's Murder

    SFPDOfficer Nick-Tomasito Birco, killed in 2006​A somewhat bizarre trial four years after the death of San Francisco Police Office Nick-Tomasito Birco yesterday resulted in the murder conviction of one of his accused killers, Steven Petrilli. The 24-year-old was found guilty of first-degree murder ... More >>

  • News

    July 14, 2010

    Facial Profiling

    Will face-recognition technology get an accused killer off the hook?

  • Blogs

    May 20, 2010

    Judge Blames D.A. Kamala Harris for Crime-Lab Scandal

    D.A. Kamala Harris has some explaining to do​A San Francisco Superior Court judge has blamed San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris for the debacle that has grown out of misconduct at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab, saying Harris' office ignored its constitutional obligation ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 14, 2010

    Wife-Beating Cops Can Keep it a Secret? Public Defender Not Pleased.

    Public Defender Jeff Adachi, pictured at a press conference last month​Public Defender Jeff Adachi said this afternoon that he has serious misgivings about District Attorney Kamala Harris' appointment of a private attorney to review which cases of police officers' criminal misconduct should be dis ... More >>

  • News

    May 12, 2010

    SF Weekly Letters

    Public Defender Jeff Adachi, pictured at a press conference last month​Public Defender Jeff Adachi said this afternoon that he has serious misgivings about District Attorney Kamala Harris' appointment of a private attorney to review which cases of police officers' criminal misconduct should be dis ... More >>

  • News

    May 5, 2010

    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.

  • Blogs

    May 4, 2010

    S.F. Cops' Criminal Pasts Could Overturn Convictions

    This kind of behavior needs to be reported to a defense attorney. In San Francisco, it hasn't been. ​The District Attorney's office -- already reeling from cocaine-skimming crime lab tech Deborah Madden and her cohorts tossing narcotic evidence into an "unsecured cardboard box" -- now has a new pr ... More >>

  • News

    February 10, 2010

    Medical marijuana growers score a defense

    This kind of behavior needs to be reported to a defense attorney. In San Francisco, it hasn't been. ​The District Attorney's office -- already reeling from cocaine-skimming crime lab tech Deborah Madden and her cohorts tossing narcotic evidence into an "unsecured cardboard box" -- now has a new pr ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 9, 2010

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    November 19, 2009

    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 >>

  • Blogs

    October 29, 2009

    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 >>

  • News

    September 23, 2009

    S.F. taxpayers may be struck with the legal tab for a failed Ingleside murder case

    ​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 >>

  • Blogs

    April 17, 2009

    Fatal Attraction: Illicit Affair Allegedly Behind 2006 SF Infanticide

    Three years ago Linda Woo, then 40, woke her two children, wrapped them in blankets, and placed them inside a Subaru Outback owned by a man who had recently broken off a six-year-affair with her. Also in the car had been placed a lit barbecue grill -- which Woo had bought along with a carbon monoxid ... More >>

  • News

    February 18, 2009

    Leader of Down Below Gang blames PTSD for killings

    Three years ago Linda Woo, then 40, woke her two children, wrapped them in blankets, and placed them inside a Subaru Outback owned by a man who had recently broken off a six-year-affair with her. Also in the car had been placed a lit barbecue grill -- which Woo had bought along with a carbon monoxid ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 11, 2008

    Marjorie Knoller case inches forward

    Three years ago Linda Woo, then 40, woke her two children, wrapped them in blankets, and placed them inside a Subaru Outback owned by a man who had recently broken off a six-year-affair with her. Also in the car had been placed a lit barbecue grill -- which Woo had bought along with a carbon monoxid ... More >>

  • News

    January 16, 2008

    Gus Fallay Beats Bribery Rap, Wants Old Job Back at SF Department of Building Inspection

    Three years ago Linda Woo, then 40, woke her two children, wrapped them in blankets, and placed them inside a Subaru Outback owned by a man who had recently broken off a six-year-affair with her. Also in the car had been placed a lit barbecue grill -- which Woo had bought along with a carbon monoxid ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 8, 2008

    Alleged S.F. Road Warrior Omeed Popal to Face 35 Felony Counts

    Three years ago Linda Woo, then 40, woke her two children, wrapped them in blankets, and placed them inside a Subaru Outback owned by a man who had recently broken off a six-year-affair with her. Also in the car had been placed a lit barbecue grill -- which Woo had bought along with a carbon monoxid ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 12, 2007

    District Attorney Files Criminal Charges Against Supervisor Ed Jew

    Three years ago Linda Woo, then 40, woke her two children, wrapped them in blankets, and placed them inside a Subaru Outback owned by a man who had recently broken off a six-year-affair with her. Also in the car had been placed a lit barbecue grill -- which Woo had bought along with a carbon monoxid ... More >>

  • News

    October 4, 2006

    Untouchable

    Half of U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan's lawyers have quit. But as he remains bunkered against criticism, who's minding the shop?

  • News

    January 18, 2006

    Let It Bleed

    Prosecutors' reluctance to charge murder suspects in S.F. leaves alleged killers on the street, flush with bravado

  • News

    November 23, 2005

    Bait and Snitch

    Lying under oath, threatening witnesses, revealing the names of federal agents -- it's just another day on the job for one of the DEA's paid drug informants

  • News

    December 26, 2001

    Law of the Bungle

    Sara Jane Olson's attorney would like to say a few words about how her San Francisco co-counsel handled the high-profile case

  • News

    September 19, 2001

    The Dilemma of Sara Jane Olson

    With an October trial in the offing, prosecutors had every intention of proving that Symbionese Liberation Army member Sara Jane Olson was a domestic terrorist who helped plant bombs under police cars 26 years ago.

  • News

    August 23, 2000

    Killer, Junkie, Liar, Thief...

    ... so why not lawyer? How our political elite tried and failed to get a law license for sister-killing Eben Gossage.

  • News

    June 7, 2000

    Officer Down

    Steve Landi was a hero at 101 California and a cop to his bones. Why is the SFPD trying so hard to get rid of him?

  • News

    January 26, 2000

    "Fairfield Wives" Saga Continues

    Mormon doctor's conviction for sexual penetration with foreign object upheld; allegation of juror misconduct headed for court

  • Calendar

    May 12, 1999

    Cothran

    Mormon doctor's conviction for sexual penetration with foreign object upheld; allegation of juror misconduct headed for court

  • Calendar

    October 7, 1998

    Cothran

    Mormon doctor's conviction for sexual penetration with foreign object upheld; allegation of juror misconduct headed for court

  • News

    January 14, 1998

    Trial by Liar

    The snitches mumbled, stumbled, equivocated, and perjured themselves The jury found Bernard Temple -- the man prosecutors believed to be a bloodthirsty assassin for drug dealers -- not guilty of murder.

  • News

    May 21, 1997

    Will the Soul-Jacker Go Free?

    State prosecutions against alleged gang assassin appear to disintegrate

  • News

    October 23, 1996

    Waste Case History

    State prosecutions against alleged gang assassin appear to disintegrate

  • News

    October 23, 1996

    Where Crime Pays

    Is the DA's Office bungling the biggest pollution case in Bay Area history?

  • More >>
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