SAN FRANCISCO, CA – During a sentencing hearing Tuesday in San Francisco County Superior Court for Jhacorey Wyatt, convicted of a 2021 Tenderloin shooting, the victim’s aunt gave a victim impact statement—seemingly ignored by Deputy District Attorney Lee Fraiser—urging mercy and justice in Wyatt’s sentencing.
The aunt of Robert Nash, the 51-year-old man killed in this incident, appeared on Zoom and told Wyatt, who appeared in court in custody, “When you look back know you don’t have to be the man you were back then, you are a new creature. I hold no malice, neither does my family…we can’t bring him (Nash) home. I know you didn’t mean to shoot him.”
Wyatt, represented by Public Defender Mano Raju, Deputy Public Defender Bao Doan, and Graduate Law Clerk Anjuli Webb, is facing anywhere from 11 to 26 years in custody based on the voluntary murder charge the jury convicted him of.
However, multiple jurors from this trial are now saying they wrongfully voted for a conviction, according to the independent SF daily 48Hills.
Since the trial concluded, multiple jurors have signed affidavits describing their mistakes, including four of them stating they regret their conviction of voluntary manslaughter, and instead saying they believe their true vote was not guilty on all the charges, according to a community letter entitled “San Francisco Community Demands for Immediate Release of Jhacorey Wyatt.”
The aunt, 82 years old, emphasized the shared commonalities between the two men during her statement, explaining Nash had similar problems to Wyatt throughout his life, both of them having lost close family members and growing up around substance abuse.
The aunt, who fostered more than 100 children throughout her life and was the first Black family to settle in Illinois, said that what happened to Wyatt doesn’t define who he is or who he can become.
“I know (what) this young man (Wyatt) has gone through,” she continued, speaking to Wyatt directly, “I see you got your head down right now, but you can lift it up. Be a strong Black man.” Sniffles could be heard in the audience as she spoke.
“I’m going to ask the judge to please have mercy on this young man,” finished the aunt, in regard to the sentencing.
DDA Frazier quickly followed with a series of questions aimed at suggesting the defense team had provided the aunt with information that influenced her testimony in court.
In response to the questions, the aunt firmly defended her position, stating, “Let me explain, I am 82 years old, I have been through the civil rights movement. I am also able to decipher what is right and wrong. Believe me you can give me everything…. I can decide what’s right and wrong. It would be even more sorrowful if this man who didn’t mean to shoot him (Nash) went to jail for a long time.”
She ended her response to DDA Fraiser with, “I want to do what’s right. You all have to stand in front of the Lord, for this young man and for all that lost a young man.”
Judge Michael McNaughton allowed for brief comments from the community members in the audience who showed up to support Wyatt, whose case, they argued, has become emblematic of the need for fairness, compassion and justice within the criminal legal system.
Diana Block, from the Participatory Defense Hub and California Coalition for Women Prisoners, read the letter aloud, “Jhacorey, 28, is a father, brother and son to whom his family members have looked for support when other loved ones were struggling.
“Despite a tumultuous childhood that included stints in foster care and abuse by his mother who was severely addicted to drugs, he emerged as a pillar of his family, working to set his life on a better path, and often taking care of his siblings and nieces. On the night that led to his arrest in August 2021, he was trying to help one of his brothers.
“On the night of Aug. 13, 2021, Jhacorey (age 25 at the time) traveled from Oakland to San Francisco’s Tenderloin to find his brother, who struggles with substance use disorder, and to bring him home. While he was on the sidewalk waiting for his brother, a group of men formed a huddle, and one of them verbally confronted Jhacorey.
“Jhacorey thought another one of them flashed a gun. Feeling cornered and panicked for his life, Jhacorey pulled the trigger of a gun he’d been urged to take for his protection while on the street that night, hitting the man whom he perceived to be a threat and accidentally killing another person nearby,” continued Block.
Raj Jayadev, founder of Silicon Valley De-Bug, continued reading the letter aloud, “Jurors acquitted Jhacorey of all counts of murder and attempted murder, because they believed Jhacoreyt was reacting to a perceived threat; yet they convicted him of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter because the jury instructions were misleading and confusing, and because they ran out of time to do a more accurate analysis.
“The trial had extended weeks past the anticipated last day, and multiple jurors had to be replaced by alternates. The jury also failed to fully deliberate the possibility of involuntary manslaughter, as they felt time and pressure to submit a verdict. The complaining witness in this case did not testify (nor did he attend) at trial.
“Since the trial concluded, multiple jurors have signed affidavits explaining the mistakes they made while deliberating: Four expressed regret over their conviction of voluntary manslaughter, asserting that their true vote was Not Guilty on all the charges ; and two of those jurors assert that they cast Guilty votes against their analysis and conclusions about the evidence because they feared being responsible for a hung jury that could lead to Jhacorey being incarcerated for more time until a re-trial … These affidavits undermine the integrity of any verdict in this case,” continued Jayadev.”
According to court records of sworn declarations from four of the jurors obtained by Raju, one stated, “I realize that my vote all along was Not Guilty on all assaultive charges because Mr. Wyatt acted in legitimate self defense,” 48 Hills reported.
According to SF Bayview, San Francisco PD Raju stated, “In hundreds of cases, I’ve never seen this… This is a highly unique situation, which is why it calls for the judge and, frankly, the prosecutor, to vacate his (Wyatt’s) conviction.”
48 Hills reported what another juror declared in court records, “At some point in the deliberations it became clear that many jurors were becoming exhausted … I could see that jurors just wanted to wrap up the case and at least one juror had their head down on the table. … It became apparent that many … simply wanted to come to a verdict, any verdict.”
One juror from the trial was present in sentencing hearing court in support of Wyatt.
“So the life of a person accused of a crime could have come down to how impatient the remaining jurors were—and that’s not how a jury trial is supposed to work,” stated 48 Hills, quoting Jayadev.
“The defense team filed a motion for a new trial—based partially on the juror misconduct indicated in the affidavits—which was recently denied by the trial judge, whose background is primarily in civil law,” continued Jayadev in court.
In a Nov. 13 ruling, Judge McNaughton decided the evidence wasn’t strong enough to meet juror misconduct, and refused to grant a new trial despite the affidavits from four jurors who now say they shouldn’t have voted for the verdict, reported 48 Hills.
“Wyatt has already been incarcerated for four years awaiting trial. If he’d been convicted of involuntary manslaughter—because he fired a gun in self defense, believing he was going to be shot or stabbed—the maximum sentence would have been four years, and he would have been released,” stated 48 Hills.
The community letter, endorsed by 15 community members and organization states, “In an effort to appeal to the judge for leniency and a more just outcome, the Public Defender’s Office has utilized its storytelling initiative called The Adachi Project to produce a sentencing video so that the judge can see a fuller picture of the impact of Jhacorey’s prolonged incarceration.
“The video features interviews with family members and one of the jurors talking about what’s at stake if the state sentences him to the extended prison time in what was ultimately a case of self defense, instead of giving him a chance to return to his family.”
After the victim’s aunt pleaded for mercy in Wyatt’s sentencing, the community members finished reading the letter by saying, “This case underscores the prosecution’s ethical duty of the pursuit of justice and protection of constitutional rights, not the triumph of a conviction at any cost…”
Judge McNaughton now faces the upcoming decision—if he will choose to sentence Wyatt to a lower term sentence, and eventually allow him to return to his daughter who was present in the courtroom, or if he will face the upper term of the sentence.
The sentencing hearing is ongoing, and will be continuing on Dec. 31 at 10 a.m. Judge McNaughton granted DPD Doan’s request to continue the hearing until this date because Public Defender Raju was not able to attend Tuesday’s hearing because of an emergency.
A doctor will be testifying at the next hearing about why Wyatt needs to receive the lower term sentencing option/presumption, by discussing mitigation and the nexus between his mental health, trauma, and the crime.
