By Tashayia George
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Deputy District Attorney Jency Breska last week asked in San Francisco Superior Court that the accused be held in jail pretrial without bail for stalking, disobeying domestic relations court order, contempt of court regarding a stay-away protective order and domestic violence.
The judge agreed.
But Defense Counsel John Feller strongly objected, arguing he had not seen evidence of “thousands” of calls by his client, allegedly to his girlfriend.
Feller stated, “I did not receive any and (the accused) is at disadvantage here because there is no clear and convincing evidence,” although he admitted his client has three previous felony convictions, but the last one was in 2014.
The case that is presented currently stems from a 2019 incident between the accused and his girlfriend.
“Three years later this woman makes a report in 2022, there’s nothing in these messages of any threats of any sort,” Feller stated.
Feller continues, saying “we don’t have the whole threads of the text; we believe the DA does not want us to see them because it may help (the accused’s) case.”
DDA Breska insisted, “The defendant calls the victim thousands of times a day and even calls her family. He has shown up to her home 50 times and 30 times since March.”
Breska added, “The victim is scared and I believe [the accused] will not follow the court’s orders. He has broken court orders before and does need to be detained without bail and get less restriction to phone access. He should only be able to call his attorney.”
But PD Feller said the things Breska stated did not add up.
“He was released in 2019 and gave three specific dates of him showing up (at the girlfriend’s location). We should not accept this testimony of him showing up 30 times. If she was so afraid, why didn’t she call the police in January?” Feller said.
Feller disagreed his client needs to be detained without bail, although acknowledging that there are people who call their partners and say things like “I’m going to F*** you up,” but that’s not the case here.
Judge Brian L. Ferrall ruled the accused’s behavior is “obsessive and he needs to get over it.” Judge Ferrall added he would have been more inclined to work with the accused, but noted the accused has a record of this behavior.
“This is the kind of case I struggled with before in the past, where you are trying to reach the conclusion that he gets it now, and I have to make that decision based on the evidence before me. I know you’re at a disadvantage here Mr. Feller because you don’t have everything,” said the judge.
“But I do not believe he gets it. He should have been gotten it. Based on what I have here and his previous record I am going to grant the motion to detain without bail, you can always have a bail hearing,” Ferrall stated.
Judge Ferrall made sure to let DDA Breska know it would be great to get all those phone calls. Preliminary hearing is set for August.
