
Officials from the Superior Court of San Francisco have tossed out 70 misdemeanor cases that never made it to a court hearing before constitutional deadlines, and some of those cases include crimes like sexual battery and driving under the influence (DUI).
A month before the dismissals, a panel of appellate judges determined that a woman’s trial in San Francisco was improperly postponed for several years and that the courts justified the postponement with outdated protocols put in place during the 2020 pandemic. Now, the office of District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced that 74 additional defendants with postponed trials based on the same protocols were identified by prosecutors.
All but four of the 74 cases were tossed out altogether on Thursday, Aug. 15, as a result of the ruling by the appellate last month. Jenkins maintained that the District Attorney’s office has a “duty” to try the cases ethically, and conceded the courts had to dismiss them. She added that the delays by the court system failed not only the defendants by depriving them of a speedy trial, which is their constitutional right, but also the “countless victims” who won’t “see justice done.”
One of the cases that was dropped involved a car crash resulting in the deaths of two pedestrians in 2022 near San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Seventy-two-year-old Mary Henderson and her daughter, 31-year-old Willa Henderson, perished from the crash.
Mary’s husband, Wayne Henderson, rebuked the decision in a hearing before Judge Anne-Christine Massullo. He said the crime victims were “being denied” their “moment of accountability” by not being able to witness the defendant in the case “answer for his misconduct.” Wayne Henderson told the judge that moment was one that the victims deserved “at the very least” and then asked her how the court’s decision was “justice.”
The Superior Court of San Francisco argues that fault lies with the District Attorney’s office, while defense attorneys and prosecutors blame the judges, who they hold responsible for the delays. Meanwhile, Superior Court employees argue the cases were tossed as a result of being understaffed.
Leo Terrell, a civil rights attorney with three decades of experience in the Golden State, said “70 criminals” were granted “a monopoly get-out-of-jail-free card,” noting that the misdemeanor cases were not simply people “jaywalking,” but involved DUIs and domestic abuse cases.