By JoJo Kofman
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A preliminary hearing for two men accused of a murder in July of 2020 moved to its seventh day Thursday in San Francisco County Superior Court—the victim of the homicide is the cousin of the husband of newly-appointed San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
The co-defendants in the case are two Black men, both 20, Sincere Pomar and Stevie Mitchell.
After witnessing Thursday’s court proceedings, Mitchell’s mother told this reporter, “I was hoping in the video where they zoomed in on the car, the window would be rolled down and they could see the person’s face, so my son could be free.”
That didn’t exactly happen, but the prosecution had problems with the presented evidence.
Deputy District Attorney Aaron Laycook called Sergeant Phillip Gordon of the San Francisco Police Dept. for examination. Sergeant Gordon had been sitting beside DDA Laycook throughout the entirety of this hearing.
Gordon confirmed he was the main investigator for the homicide which took place on July 5, 2020, at 181 Giants Drive, San Francisco.
Court proceedings began with Gordon’s description of a conversation he had on July 13, 2020, with a juvenile witness of the homicide who previously testified, but Defense Attorney Pamela Herzig quickly objected to this part of his testimony.
Herzig charged that while the witness was on the stand, “Laycook decided not to ask the juvenile witness any specific questions,” noting, “the juvenile witness didn’t even say he met with Gordon,” adding, “now that things are going south, Laycook brings this in.”
The hearing proceeded as DDA Laycook presented numerous files of surveillance footage from the location of the homicide, which Sergeant Gordon had received from “Watchtower Security.” While watching the footage, Gordon stated he saw “the white Honda vehicle from the night of the homicide.”
Defense attorney Herzig objected, stating that there’s no way to discern that the white Honda in the footage is the same as the suspect’s white Honda.
While watching the footage, Sergeant Gordon claimed to see a person running down Giants Drive.
But, Defense Attorney Herzig objected to his claim, explaining that she saw two people in the footage, not one, noting, “This demonstrates how if his opinion is being presented for the truth of the matter, it’s unreliable and inappropriate.”
Judge Hwang explained that he’s taking the officer’s testimony to guide the court through the footage, noting that the video is being described, not taken into evidence.
While continuing to describe the footage, Sergeant Gordon stated he saw four people flee from the Honda. Sergeant Gordon said he saw a person running down the street raising his hand, “presumably blocking the camera’s view.”
Both Deputy Public Defender Jessie Shay and Defense Attorney Herzig were quick to object to Sergeant Gordon’s statement, complaining Sergeant Gordon’s claim was clear speculation.
Judge Victor M. Hwang upheld the objection, and agreed to omit that part of Sergeant Gordon’s testimony.
The next file presented by DDA Laycook was surveillance footage from the Alemany housing project. Sergeant Gordon stated that within this file, he used a system called “Snagit” to preserve a small portion of the footage.
Sergeant Gordon showed the specific videos he preserved through Snagit to a man named Deangelo Rodriguez.
The officer said that once he showed Rodriguez the video clips, Rodriguez told him the person in the car was known as “Bubz,” which he claimed was a nickname for Sincere Pomar. Sergeant Gordon then said he took screen captures of the footage and worked with SFPD officers to identify the suspects.
Sergeant Gordon said SFPD officers stated “they believe the person was possibly Stevie Mitchell,” as well as being possibly Sincere Pomar.
Defense attorney Herzig objected to Sergeant Gordon’s statements, explaining that the officers’ claims were not reliable. The judge agreed and assigned zero weight to Sergeant Gordon’s statements regarding whom the officers claimed the suspects to be.
In reference to Sergeant Gordon’s use of “Snagit” to identify suspects Mitchell and Pomar, Mitchell’s mother stated that Snagit is an app that allows you to import photos from anywhere.
Mitchell’s mother also commented to this reporter, “Why is it that Rodriguez wasn’t called to the stand, yet a juvenile witness was?” 
