Judge grants first-ever Racial Justice Act motion in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — For the first time in San Francisco since Racial Justice Act became state law in 2021, a judge granted an RJA motion filed by public defenders, attorneys said.
The San Francisco Public Defender's Office said it successfully raised the motion for a Black man, 22-year-old Adonte Bailey.
A police officer who arrested and testified at trial against Bailey 'exhibited implicit bias during the man's arrest and during trial testimony,' SFPDO wrote.
'Implicit bias plays a huge role in our legal system — from police to prosecutors to judge — and has historically resulted in the over-policing, over-charging, and over-sentencing of people of color,' said Deputy Public Defender Diamond Ward, who represented Bailey.
At a RJA hearing, the judge reduced some of Bailey's felony convictions to misdemeanors.
Since the Racial Justice Act went into effect, San Francisco public defenders have filed RJA motions in numerous cases, but few have resulted in judges granting evidentiary hearings. Bailey's case was the first RJA motion in San Francisco Superior Court that led to a judge grating a hearing and issuing remedies for the defendant.
Woman wrongly accused of theft at Pilates studio goes viral on TikTok
Bailey was arrested in late 2023 while a police officer was responding to a report of someone standing on the street with a gun. The officer's own words, recorded by his body worn camera, were used at the hearing to show evidence of bias, attorneys said.
'The officer's racially-coded words and discriminatory language amounted to a violation of the Racial Justice Act,' said Deputy Public Defender Lilah Wolf, who argued the RJA motion in court. 'While our office has always challenged instances of more explicit racial animus toward our clients, the Racial Justice Act now empowers us to address this kind of insidious implicit bias that undercuts due process and perpetuates the unfair treatment of Black and Brown people in the criminal legal system.'
California's Racial Justice Act states that implicit bias, which is often unintentional and unconscious, may inject racism and unfairness.
'We hope that this ruling stands as a testament to the power of the California Racial Justice Act that we can win these motions and help challenge unjust convictions and sentences,' said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju.
SFPDO said the 'groundbreaking' legal victory was achieved by Deputy Public Defender Lilah Wolf, Deputy Public Defender Oliver Kroll, and research director Sujung Kim.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
34 minutes ago
Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Judge sticks with juror dismissal decision
The hip-hop mogul is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. 0:27 This story may contain accounts and descriptions of actual or alleged events that some readers may find disturbing. This is week six of testimony in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. Sean Combs trial underway The highly anticipated trial of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is underway. Combs has been accused of sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy as part of a blockbuster federal indictment originally filed in September 2024. He later faced two additional superseding indictments. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. Combs is accused of being the ringleader of an alleged enterprise that "abused, threatened and coerced women" into prolonged, drug-fueled sexual orgies with male prostitutes, which he called "freak offs," and then threatened them into silence. Combs has said that all of the sex was consensual and that while his relationships sometimes involved domestic violence, he wasn't engaged in trafficking. Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said Combs was simply part of the swinger lifestyle and that he "vehemently denies the accusations made by the SDNY" and "looks forward to his day in court." 15 minutes ago Judge upholds decision to dismiss juror ahead of week 6 of testimony Judge Arun Subramanian declined on Monday to change his mind about juror No.6, upholding his decision to remove the juror and replace him with an alternate. 'The record raised serious concerns as to the juror's candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury,' Subramanian said. 'There's nothing the juror could say at this point to put the genie back in the bottle.' The first alternate juror is a 57-year-old architect from Westchester. The judge said he took seriously the defense concern about race -- juror No.6 is Black -- but he said, 'this jury does not raise those concerns.' He also said it is 'inappropriate to consider race' in deciding whether the juror's responses to questions about where he lived were appropriate. At the conclusion of court on Friday, Judge Subramanian dismissed juror No.6 over what he said were "inconsistencies" in statements the juror made about where he lived, saying that the alleged inconsistencies raised questions about the juror's candor and ability to follow instructions.
USA Today
5 hours ago
- USA Today
'Forgiveness is between him and God:' Families reflect on decade since Charleston church massacre
'Forgiveness is between him and God:' Families reflect on decade since Charleston church massacre Show Caption Hide Caption Mother Emanuel AME churchgoer's legacy remembered seven years after tragic shooting Melvin Graham reflects on the life and legacy of his sister, Cynthia Graham Hurd, on the seventh anniversary of the Mother Emanuel AME mass shooting. Josh Morgan, USA TODAY Melvin Graham sat on the right of the arena with other families and listened as Barack Obama read the names of the nine churchgoers who were killed by a White supremacist at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. He heard Obama call the name of his younger sister, Cynthia Graham Hurd. That was emotional enough. But at one point, the then-president broke out singing, 'Amazing Grace.'' Pastors, families, choir members joined in. 'That's one of those moments when you just wanted to break out and cry,'' recalled Graham, who had heard and sung the hymn plenty times over the years. 'Not in the context of having lost a loved one.'' The shooting 10 years ago at Emanuel AME Church, a historic Black church also known as 'Mother Emanuel," shocked the nation. Members− including Cynthia, a librarian − were at Bible study that June 17 evening when a White man they had welcomed later fatally shot nine of them. Five others survived. Some family members called Obama's presence days later at a funeral service and his rendition of the hymn a poignant moment as the country grappled with the horror of people gunned down in church. 'Even though this happened to Black people in a church… It felt like that sent a message of 'This could happen to anybody,' '' said Rev. Sharon Risher, whose mother, Ethel Lee Lance, was among the Emanuel Nine. "The sympathy from the country was overwhelming.' The nation was also gripped by some of the families publicly forgiving the shooter. But in the decade since the massacre, the families and others have been troubled by other deadly attacks against people because of their race, ethnicity or faith. And while they continue to demand justice for loved ones they lost, they also call for more efforts to prevent gun violence and tamp down on divisiveness plaguing the country. Families and community leaders hope commemorating the 10th anniversary will lead to more action. To mark the anniversary, Mother Emanuel will host a series of events, including a service June 17, during what it called 'Acts of Amazing Grace Month.'' The Graham family held a memorial service June 12 for Cynthia at the church, followed by a town hall, 'The Way Forward,' to discuss efforts to heal and take action a decade later. 'It is a moment for us to move from mourning to commemoration,'' Tonya Matthews, president and CEO of the International African American Museum in Charleston, told USA TODAY. 'But that move comes with the real responsibility and we've got to ask: So, what now? We have a moral obligation to do more than remember that moment – we must learn from it and use those lessons of history to inform our future.'' 'Move from mourning to commemoration' Across Charleston, there are monuments and tributes to honor the Emanuel Nine, including wooden benches with their names on them at a park near the church. More: 'We've slipped into forgetfulness': Charleston church shooting survivors demand gun control There are also scholarships, foundations and memorial gardens named in their honor. A library has been renamed the Cynthia Graham Hurd/St. Andrews Library. Construction is underway for the Emanuel Nine Memorial at the church. Church officials hope it will provide a space to help with healing. 'They're being memorialized and they're being remembered,'' said Graham, adding that racial attacks still happen. 'But we have to put a stop to this.'' 'Someone is going to act on the lie – again' Attacks against people because of their faith, race or ethnicity have continued since the shooting at Mother Emanuel. In 2022, 10 Black shoppers were killed by a white supremacist at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. While some communities have condemned such attacks, overt racist rhetoric, including against immigrants, have ramped up, said Holly Fisher-Hickman, a history professor at Bowie State University in Maryland. Beyond Trump administration policies, such as travel bans including from African countries and challenges to birthright citizenship, people are more vocal about attacking other communities, she said. 'It's worse,'' Fisher-Hickman said. "Now we have someone who is blatantly saying it's okay to do what you feel.' Graham said national leaders should take the lead to condemn divisive rhetoric. He hopes the commemorations remind people of the harm that can come from it. 'The undercurrent for this to happen is right there,'' Graham said. 'Someone is going to believe the lie and someone is going to act on the lie – again.'' 'Forgiveness is between him and God' Risher was as surprised as others when some family members, including her own, told Dylann Roof they forgave him during a court hearing soon after the shooting. 'They just felt compelled and the words just came out of their mouths,'' recalled Risher, who believes God intervened. She called the public forgiveness significant because it 'set the tone of what was going to go on in Charleston.' The community rallied. It took Risher, who also lost a childhood friend and two cousins in the church shooting, more time to forgive. "I'm like, 'Oh, hell no,'' she said. It was two years later during a sermon at an interfaith service in Virginia, before Risher said she was moved to publicly forgive Roof. 'God allowed me to work it out in my own time,' said Risher, author of "For Such a Time as This: Hope and Forgiveness after the Charleston Massacre.'' Over the last decade, she has been an advocate for gun violence prevention and abolishing the death penalty. Last month, families of the Emanuel Nine joined a Zoom call with a victim's advocate to get an update on Roof's appeals. Roof, who was 21 at the time of the church shooting, was one of three prisoners on federal death row not given a commutation on his sentence by President Joe Biden last December. Historically, the African American community has given grace to others, said Fisher-Hickman. But some today don't feel that way. 'Now, people are saying, 'I'm not giving any more grace, grace has run out,'' she said. While some families of the Emanuel Nine have expressed forgiveness, not everyone has. 'Forgiveness is between him and God,'' Graham said. 'You can't execute my sister and say, 'Forgive me,'' he said. 'He planned the day, the time and the moment of my sister's death.'' Instead, he said, the family is pressing for lawmakers to adopt stricter gun laws and keep the memory of the Emanuel Nine alive. Graham's brother, Malcolm, recently released a book, 'The Way Forward: Keeping the Faith and Doing the Work Amid Hatred and Violence.'' 'We don't want to be the angry Black family,'' said Melvin Graham. "But we have to stand up for what's right.'' Remembering their names The Rev. Clementa Pickney, 41, senior pastor at Mother Emanuel and state senator The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45, associate pastor, high school coach Cynthia Graham Hurd, 54, long-time librarian, branch manager Susie Jackson, 87, church trustee, member of the choir Ethel Lee Lance, 70, sexton, long-time member of Mother Emanuel DePayne Middleton-Doctor, 49, minister at the church, admissions coordinator, singer Tywanza Sanders, 26, recent college graduate, aspiring rapper Daniel Simmons, Sr., 74, retired pastor, Army veteran, Purple Heart recipient Myra Thompson, 59, teacher, counselor, church trustee
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
I'm a solo traveler and these are 5 scary cities women should stay away from — I survived kidnap and mugging scares
Women with wanderlust, be warned. A self-described 'solo female traveler' has taken to TikTok to reveal the five most dangerous cities she's visited — and is urging other globetrotting gals to remain vigilant should they venture there. Andrea Elliott shared the list of the five frightening locales in a viral video that has recently resurfaced ahead of the summer travel season. 'If you are a solo traveling woman like me, or if you plan on solo traveling somewhere this summer, I would watch this video in its entirety for the list of destinations that I will never travel to again as a solo traveling woman,' the intrepid tripper told viewers. First, the TikTokker urged ladies to stay away from Manila in the Philippines, saying it was 'definitely not safe' in the area where she stayed. 'My hotel wouldn't even let me go to the ATM outside,' Elliot alleged. 'They told me to put more clothes on, not to wear a tank top because there were so many men outside and it just wasn't safe for me to walk alone,' she added. Secondly, the globetrotter told viewers that she would never set foot in Paris, France, again. 'I was literally almost mugged twice while on the subway,' she explained. 'And mind you, there are police walking around with guns, like a lot of police and law enforcement walking around, but yet I was still nearly mugged while on the subway in Paris.' 'I was also cautioned about pickpockets and advised not to go out alone at night,' she further dished. Third on Elliot's list of scary cities: Cartagena, Colombia. 'Overall, I really loved Cartagena, even though the men were pretty aggressive,' the content creator claimed. 'The reason why Cartagena is on this list is because when I initially got there before I got into the walled city, I was taking a video from my taxi and stuck my arms slightly out of my taxi window,' she recalled. 'The cops then pulled up next to me in a scooter and told me to stick my arm back in — that it wasn't safe to have my cell phone out like that and just to be very cautious with my cell phone and my belongings.' Also on Elliot's list: Caye Caulker, Belize. 'Unfortunately, the men are very, very aggressive,' she told her virtual audience. 'So much so that I had to pepper spray a man who was literally touching my person, touching me physically, just to get me to come into his restaurant.' The fifth and final frightening locale, according to Elliot, is San Salvador, El Salvador. The bruette sensationally claimed she was almost kidnapped by two men while she traveling alone there. 'These were construction workers because they were in a flatbed truck, and they had wired spool in the back of their truck,' she recalled. ' They pulled up next to me… both of them grabbed me by my arms and were pulling me inside of their truck.' 'Luckily, there were restaurants nearby, heard me screaming, people heard me screaming and came outside and were like, 'Déjala! Déjala! Leave her alone. Don't touch her. And the guys got in their truck and sped off.'
