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By Sunny Zhou
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – San Francisco Rising reported this past week the office of SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins allowed another delay in the case against SF Police Dept. Officer Kenneth Cha, who shot an unarmed Sean Moore while he had a mental health crisis in his own home.
On Jan. 20, 2020, Moore died from complications directly related to the gunshot wounds, San Francisco Rising reported. The coroners’ report stated the cause of death was “Acute Intestinal Obstruction caused by the bullet wounds’ scar tissue.”
Since she took office in 2022, DA Jenkins has acted as an ally to Officer Cha’s defense team, San Francisco Rising charged, writing, “[E]ach time Cha’s attorney requested a delay, the DA has allowed it without concern for the family’s prolonged suffering,” dragging the case out for nearly two years.
In 2021, ABC7 News reported then-SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s office filed charges for voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon against Cha. The charges marked only the second homicide prosecution against an on-duty police officer in San Francisco.
According to San Francisco Rising, the family has received no updates from DA Jenkins’ office and has had their meetings with the DA canceled and, for months, Cleo Moore (Moore’s mother) and Moore’s brother Kenneth Blackmon, along with various groups in the community have demanded the DA bring the case to a preliminary hearing so evidence could be heard.
“I’ve been here for a year and six months and I’ve only heard, ‘We have to get more evidence.’ I don’t know what other evidence they need,” Cleo Moore said to a crowd of supporters in front of the Hall of Justice after yet another delay, adding, “I’m going to wheel in with my little walker until I can’t wheel in anymore. That is my child and I love him. He should not be in his grave.”
“The DA’s decision to delay justice in the case against Kenneth Cha isn’t a standalone act; it’s a pattern,” said San Francisco Rising co-director Emily Lee.
Lee added, “Look at the cases of Keita O’Neil and Banko Brown, where she dropped the charges. She is refusing to bring accountability… acting as more of an ally to police than to the victims’ families.”
A court hearing for Cha has been set for June 29 at 9 a.m.
