San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Adachi’s biggest fights included “Textgate” police scandal, defending suspect in Kate Steinle killing.
As one of the most influential public defenders in the country — and the only elected one in California — Jeff Adachi was at the center of many of the biggest stories in San Francisco over the past three decades.
He had an almost limitless ambition and an instinct for political theater. In a city whose progressive landscape provided opportunities for trailblazing, Adachi, who died Friday at age 59, widened his influence well beyond that of a conventional public defender, whose job is to represent clients who can’t afford to hire their own lawyers.
Here are some of the defining moments and biggest battles in Adachi’s career as a public defender, politician and criminal justice advocate in San Francisco:
An innocent man: Adachi lost his first murder trial as a young deputy public defender in 1990. His 18-year-old client, John Tennison, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life for a 1989 street-corner killing.
Tennison spent 14 years inside Mule Creek State Prison. Public defenders frequently represent guilty clients. But Adachi always maintained Tennison’s innocence. “It’s a defense attorney’s worst nightmare to have an innocent client convicted,” Adachi said in 2004. “And there was no question he was innocent.”
After several breathtaking twists, a federal judge threw out Tennison’s conviction after his appellate lawyers proved that prosecutors withheld key evidence from Adachi at trial, including a confession from another man and a witness’ admission that she lied about having seen the slaying.
After Tennison’s release, Adachi hired him to work as a clerk in the Public Defender’s Office.
A new target: pensions: Never one to shy away from a tough fight — and frequently the instigator of them — Adachi sought to stave off what he called “a fiscal train wreck just around the corner” by forcing city employees to contribute more money to their pensions and health insurance costs.
To do that, Adachi spearheaded 2010’s quixotic and ultimately unsuccessful Proposition B, which would have saved the city an estimated $170 million annually at that time. In crusading for the measure, Adachi confronted opposition from then-Mayor Gavin Newsom and the politically powerful labor unions, who said Adachi was vilifying working people.
‘Textgate’ scandal: In 2011, Adachi posted surveillance video on YouTube showing San Francisco police officers illegally entering the room of a suspected drug dealer in the Henry Hotel in South of Market without search warrants. In the video and other recordings, police were seen taking suspects’ valuables and drugs and falsifying police reports that didn’t account for all items that were confiscated.
The videos prompted a three-year federal and city investigation that culminated in the indictment of six officers and revealed dozens of racist and homophobic text messages between officers. Four former officers — Edmond Robles, Ian Furminger, Reynaldo Vargas and Arshad Razzak — were later convicted and have since served prison sentences.
In 2016, a new set of cops were found to have exchanged racist and bigoted text messages. A judge ruled last year that officers can be disciplined for the racist messages. Adachi’s office and the district attorney’s office have reviewed thousands of arrests related to the officers in both “textgate” scandals to see whether bias played a role. As of 2016, 13 criminal cases were dismissed because of the first set of racist messages.
Police shootings: In recent years, Adachi regularly clashed with District Attorney George Gascón on decisions not to prosecute police officers involved in fatal shootings.
For instance, the 2016 shooting of a fleeing, unarmed driver named Jessica Williams in the Bayview neighborhood, which led to the resignation of Police Chief Greg Suhr, yielded no criminal charges and outrage from Adachi. Prosecutors concluded that Williams was driving in Sgt. Justin Erb’s direction in a stolen car.
“I’m flabbergasted that the D.A. is saying it is OK to shoot at a person who appears to have been fleeing in a car,” Adachi said in 2017. “How can you justify shooting a person when you easily could have stepped out of the way?”
On a panel with Gascón in December on police shootings, Adachi said that the system is “broken,” citing the lack of prosecution in the 2015 shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview, which led to police reforms. Woods, a stabbing suspect, was shot while carrying a knife but not directly threatening officers with it.
“The idea that we’re not going to hold officers accountable … when the citizens hear about that and see it, people become outraged,” Adachi said. “If it were you or I, we’d be arrested and locked up within a matter of hours.”
Gascón, who has said he would bring a case against a police officer that he could prove to a jury, agreed that the system needs changes.
Kate Steinle killing: In a case that amplified the bitter national debate over immigration — and particularly the role of sanctuary cities — Adachi oversaw the defense of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate. The undocumented Mexican man was accused of killing 32-yearold Kate Steinle in July 2015 after San Francisco jailors did not turn him over to federal deportation agents.
Steinle was walking with her father on Pier 14 when, according to Zarate’s public defenders, he found a gun under his seat on the pier just seconds before it discharged in his hands. The bullet ricocheted off the concrete ground, piercing Steinle’s heart. Adachi’s attorneys convinced the jury it was an accident, and Garcia Zarate was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges.
On the day of the acquittal, Adachi said of his client, “I think he feels tremendous sympathy for Kate Steinle and her family — we do as well — but unfortunately these types of horrible, tragic accidents happen every day.”
Garcia Zarate remains jailed, awaiting deportation and possible federal prosecution.