California crime crisis: Dozens of criminal defendants handed 'get out of jail free card' on technicality

San Francisco Superior Court officials dismissed 70 misdemeanor cases - including DUIs, sexual battery and violations of restraining orders - that were not heard in court before their constitutional deadline. 

The mass dismissals came a month after a panel of California appellate judges found that San Francisco's courts improperly postponed a woman's trial for years, justifying the decision with outdated pandemic-era protocols. 

"They gave these 70 criminals a monopoly get out of jail free card," civil rights attorney Leo Terrell, who has practiced in California for over three decades, told Fox News Digital. "These are not people who are jaywalking – DUI, domestic violence. Where is the relief for the victim?"

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins' office announced that prosecutors had identified 74 other defendants whose trials were postponed under the same circumstances. A judge tossed all but four of those charges en masse last Thursday in light of the appellate ruling.

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Jenkins conceded that the courts were required to dismiss the cases and that her office was "duty bound" to try cases ethically. But she stressed that the court's delays failed not just the defendants who were deprived of their constitutional right to a speedy trial, but the "countless victims of crime who will not see justice done."

Among the dropped cases was a vehicle crash that killed two pedestrians near the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2022. Wayne Henderson, whose 72-year-old wife Mary Henderson and 31-year-old daughter Willa Henderson died in the crash, voiced his anger before San Francisco Superior Court Presiding Judge Anne-Christine Massullo last Thursday.

"We, the victims of these crimes, are being denied our moment of accountability … to see and hear the defendant answer for his misconduct. The moment that we at the very least deserve," he said, per the San Francisco Chronicle. "How is this justice?"

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Prosecutors and defense attorneys are blaming judges for the delays, while the Superior Court argued that the San Francisco District Attorney's Office was at fault. 

Massullo told the Chronicle that there was "no discretion" in the cases that her court was required to dismiss, and said that the court hopes that "the district attorney's office will prioritize cases appropriately so that justice can be served." 

In response, a spokesperson from the district attorney's office shot back that "any insinuation by the Court that our office should resolve cases irresponsibly in order to help the Court manage its caseload is injudicious, misplaced and improper."

Terrell, a civil rights attorney who has practiced in the California area for more than three decades, told Fox News Digital that he's never seen "this type of wholesale dismissal based on negligence."

"I’ve seen individual cases dismissed. But here you have 70? This is highly unusual given that I have not heard any legitimate excuse for it," Terrell said on Thursday. "There are so many alternatives that the San Francisco Superior court could have used – all they have to do is look at other cities and counties in California." 

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Under similar circumstances, Terrell said, courts will often tap civil court judges to help handle large caseloads, shutting down civil court operations until criminal cases have been handled. 

Courts can also extend their hours to handle more cases, he said. 

Terrell also noted that it is "not that difficult" to prosecute these misdemeanor cases in comparison to felonies that require more witness and expert testimony. 

"You don’t have 15, 20 witnesses," he explained. "If we have a misdemeanor case, I’ve never had a case where there’s been more than 3 or 4 witnesses on both sides. In a DUI case, it’s usually the defendant, a police officer’s report and a medical expert’s testimony on the BAC."

Terrell also said that plea deals are often struck to reduce caseloads rather than dismissing cases altogether. 

Constitutional law expert John Turley noted that district attorney's offices typically "do not simply rely on abandonment as a case management tool."

"If it was done by negligence, it's a very serious matter, to have such a large number of cases dismissed by non-action," Turley said. "If it was done by design, they need to explain why they did not simply move for dismissal."

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California Criminal Defense Attorney David Wohl told Fox News Digital that case overloads have been a "problem state-wide." In Riverside County, he said, there have been a number of felony cases that were dismissed because of a lack of available courtrooms.

"For that kind of thing to happen now, given that we are two years beyond COVID issues in California, it's just another symptom of political dysfunction in that city," he said. "It's a sad statement about the state of affairs in a city that in so many ways is great but in so many ways now is dysfunctional - it's begging for federal intervention.