A plea deal offered by the San Francisco District Attorney was taken by an unhoused man unable to pay bail, offering insight into the predatory nature of plea deals when used against low-income individuals.
On Thursday morning in Department 9 of the San Francisco Hall of Justice, a man pleaded guilty to resisting an executive officer, accepting an offer from the District Attorney that will result in his being placed on felony probation for two years.
The man was released from custody after the hearing as a result of the plea. If he had not taken the plea deal, his custody in San Francisco County Jail likely would have been extended until he was sentenced, which could take up to several months.
Bail was not an option for the defendant due to his inability to pay.
In a private conversation with the representation, Deputy Public Defender Seth Meisels explained that clients can be eager to accept deals that result in their immediate release from custody, even if they could result in a harsher sentence.
Despite his concerns about the defendant’s ability to meet the probation conditions due to housing instability, Meisels respects the client’s autonomy in making his own informed decision.
The instability that unhoused people may experience can make following probation orders particularly difficult.
The ability to regularly report to a probation officer, one of the main conditions of felony probation, requires consistent access to a phone or other means of communication that many unhoused people struggle to maintain.
If the defendant violates his probation, he will risk the possibility of being sentenced to state prison without a trial.
His probation sentencing will occur on Aug. 1 under Judge Simon J. Frankel, at which he has been ordered to be present.
