Erica Derryck

City Attorney Says DNA Lab Memo Is Exempt from Public Records Act

Rockne Harmon co-authored a controversial internal memo on crime lab problems​We reported Tuesday that City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office, contrary to assertions made at a public debate last week by District Attorney George Gascón, had not provided an opinion as to whether a controversial inte ... More >>

SFPD Investigates Officer for Mouthing Off to Press

City Attorney Contradicts DA George Gascón's Statements on DNA Lab Memo

George Gascón​The San Francisco City Attorney's Office yesterday contradicted statements District Attorney George Gascón made last week about why his office has refused to release an internal memo criticizing the DNA unit of the city's troubled police crime lab.The memo, which was authored by na ... More >>

Mark McGovern Update: DA Won't Press Charges Against Patrick Power in Gaelic Football Attack

Mark McGovern​The District Attorney's Office has decided not to press charges just yet against 26-year-old Patrick Power, the Half Moon Bay man arrested last week in connection with an off-the-ball fracas that put 22-year-old Mark McGovern in a coma. Erica Derryck, spokeswoman with the DA's Office ... More >>

DA George Gascón Defends Handling of Crime Lab Memo

George Gascón​District Attorney George Gascón fought back against attacks on his suppression of an internal memo criticizing the San Francisco Police Department Crime Lab's DNA unit at a public forum for DA candidates last night, asserting that his office was prepared to disclose the memo throug ... More >>

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

Dennis Peron, Local Pot Guru, Cleared of Criminal Charges

Free and pissed​Dennis Peron has said it all along. For decades, the Castro District resident -- one of the fathers of the American medical cannabis movement  -- has maintained that marijuana is medicine. And for just under a year, Peron has been insisting that he's innocent of narcotics and ... More >>

George Gascón's Losing Streak

Well, he never actually practiced law before being DA ​Update: DA's Office responds. Read after the jump.Original story: Since George Gascón took over as District Attorney earlier this year, more defendants have walked free.As we've noted before, Gascón wasn't appointed DA for his lawyerin' skil ... More >>

George Gascon Tries to Back Up Pro-Pot Claims by Dropping Charges on Grower

sfgov.orgWe know what we're doing​Yesterday, we told you the story of Wayne Kiloh, a 63-year-old Richmond District man who for seven years has grown medical cannabis in his Avenues home for the Green Cross, the city's lone licensed medical marijuana delivery service. After a July 2010 police raid ... More >>

George Gascon Flipflops on Medical Marijuana

This Is Your City: Housing Authority Bans San Franciscans from Public Housing

State Inspectors Find Outer Mission Nursing Home at Fault in Death of Patient

​An Outer Mission convalescent home's shoddy oversight of its employees led to the death of an 87-year-old resident last year, according to a new report issued by state health inspectors.The report, prepared by the California Department of Public Health, resulted in a severe "AA" citation for the ... More >>

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 >>

Illegal Immigrants: More Hate Crime Victims Could Get Visas

​Last November, three white males attacked two Mexicans in the Tenderloin neighborhood. Those men are now facing felony assault and hate crime charges -- a relatively unreported case that District Attorney George Gascón will detail today. If there is a silver lining to this alleged hate crime, it ... More >>

DA George Gascón Says Probe of Alleged SFPD Perjury Isn't Conflict of Interest

Independent of what?​Update: KGO reports this morning that the FBI is launching its own investigation into the allegations over the police misconduct during a drug bust earlier this year. The agency will look into possible civil rights violations among other violations.Original story, Thursday, Ma ... More >>

Second Alleged Funeral Scammer in the Slammer

In custody. ​Donald Rollins didn't stay on the lam for long. The former funeral home operator who is accused of bilking living clients out of money for future services turned himself in Wednesday afternoon, says Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Eileen Hirst. "Mr. Rollins is with us," she said ... More >>

DA's Office Belatedly Mails Memo Criticizing Crime Lab to Defense Lawyers

Kamala Harris​Questions About Secrecy Surrounding Document PersistThe San Francisco District Attorney's Office has quietly begun supplying criminal defense lawyers with an internal memo that criticizes the work of the San Francisco Police Department Crime lab's DNA Unit.The document, obtained by S ... More >>

'N-Word,' Assault on Muni Platform Lead to Felony Hate-Crime Charges

​A 50-year-old drifter has been charged with eight felonies after he allegedly assaulted a black man on a Bayview Muni platform while saying, "Nigger, die."Most of the charges carry additional hate-crime enhancements, according to Erica Derryck, spokeswoman for the office of District Attorney ... More >>

Face-Stabbing Cop Peeves Public Defender

sfpublicdefender.orgJeff Adachi, public defender​The current hoopla at the Hall of Justice over non-disclosure of police officers' violent histories continued Monday, when Public Defender Jeff Adachi issued a terse press release asking why on earth his department wasn't told a cop involved in a ca ... More >>

Grandpa Allegedly Molested 8-Year-Old at School, Saying He Was Bringing Her A Snack

D.A. Kamala Harris​A 68-year-old man has been charged with felony sexual assault for allegedly attacking his eight-year-old step-granddaughter, the district attorney's office announced today.Erica Derryck, spokeswoman for D.A. Kamala Harris, said in a press release that Pedro Hernandez was caught ... More >>

A Secrecy Fetish

District Attorney Kamala Harris is going too far in protecting Catholic pedophiles.

D.A. Kamala Harris Appoints Iran-Contra Prosecutor to Handle S.F. Criminal Cop Scandal

John Keker, who went after Iran-Contra defendant Oliver North (pictured), will soon be looking into the SFPD.​District Attorney Kamala Harris announced today that she will appoint a high-powered private attorney to review the growing scandal over her office's failure to disclose the criminal backg ... More >>

The ABCs of Ditching School

Schools are trying to contain their truancy epidemic. How're they doing? Just ask the students smoking pot less than a block from campus.