Woman sentenced to 9 years in attack

A woman was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison for pulling a knife, threatening and chasing down five patrons outside a San Francisco gay club, in a case that saw lawyers argue over whether the use of gay slurs proved a hate crime.

Pearly Martin, 30, was convicted of making criminal threats, burglary and vandalism in connection with the April 25, 2016, incident, which began after Drag Night at Club OMG on Sixth Street in the South of Market neighborhood.

The five victims had left the club at about 2 a.m. when they were confronted by Martin and several of her friends, who falsely believed the victims had been taking cell phone photos of her and humiliating her.

According to court documents, Martin swore at the the victims — one of whom was dressed in drag — shouting gay slurs and crude insults about their appearance, before pulling out a knife and threatening to kill them. The victims

scattered, with two running to a car and locking the doors.

Martin kicked at the doors and banged on the windows before trying to slash the tires with her knife. She then ran after the other three, who fled to one of their apartments a block away. She and her friends cornered the victims in the building’s lobby as they tried to call the police, but they were able to escape.

When police arrived and placed Martin in a patrol car, she kicked the windows hard enough to cause damage to the glass and window frame, court documents state.

Martin’s sentence could have been longer. Prosecutors originally charged her with committing a hate crime, but jurors found her not guilty on that charge.

Defense attorney John Kaman argued that Martin was herself bisexual and that what were construed as homophobic threats that included a well-known slur were just part of her vernacular as an admitted drug dealer in the Tenderloin neighborhood.

“That is the way she talks,” Kaman said in his closing argument. “It doesn’t mean she hates members of the LGBT community. It doesn’t mean anything at all.”

Kaman told jurors that “there is a different language that is spoken in parts of the city on the streets, and I don’t want you to be confused by that.”

Assistant District Attorney Benjamin Mains challenged this defense, writing in a sentencing brief that Martin “engaged in a pattern of victim blaming, and shaming, and tried to excuse and minimize her extremely aggressive and scary behavior by claiming that her aggression and homophobic epithets are cultural.”

The victims, Mains said, were “celebrating in what they rightfully presumed was a safe and welcoming place. The sense of community that we foster in San Francisco is one of inclusion and acceptance. It is a fundamental tenet of this city that you can be open and proud regardless of who you are, or who you love.”