SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco jury acquitted a man of all charges after he spent eight months in custody for felony possession of drugs with intent to sell, according to a press release from the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office.
The Oct. 22 verdict followed a February 2025 law enforcement raid at Jefferson Square Park that led to the man’s arrest. Prosecutors opposed all motions for pretrial release, citing public safety concerns, despite the accused testifying about his struggles with homelessness and addiction, and stating he had never engaged in drug sales.
A drug dependence expert supported his testimony, saying the amount of drugs he possessed “could have reasonably been for his personal use.”
The San Francisco Police Department said the February 26 raid was launched “in response to many community complaints of criminal and drug-related activity.” The department reported making 90 arrests and seizing more than 1.21 pounds of narcotics that night.
Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement, “Drug-related activity will never be tolerated in Jefferson Square or any other part of the city. Our officers will be out in force conducting operations just like these all over.”
Not everyone agrees the raids are effective in addressing San Francisco’s drug crisis. Deputy Public Defender Sylvia Nguyen said her client “has been struggling with addiction since he was 14 years old.”
“There’s a misperception that people only use drugs to get high, but when a person is gravely addicted, they need to maintain their habit just to feel normal and, most importantly, to avoid excruciating withdrawals,” Nguyen said. “The drug crisis in San Francisco is absolutely troubling, but not all people who use [drugs] are sellers. Raids like these—where officers are pushing people, cursing at them, and rounding them up like cattle—are dehumanizing and ineffective.”
The press release described body-camera footage showing officers yelling at bystanders on the sidewalk, pushing them toward the park, and forcing them to sit on a curb with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. One officer shouted at a woman, “Grab your s—, let’s go,” and told a man, “Stand the f— up. You ain’t running things around here,” adding “No one cares” when he objected to his treatment.
The release said the SFPD’s official account “portrays [the raid] as a calm operation where officers treated people courteously.”
According to police, the accused attempted to flee Jefferson Square Park at the onset of the raid, but body-camera footage showed him “outside the park riding a scooter toward police when he was arrested.”
After his acquittal and release, the man is now receiving treatment services for addiction, the public defender’s office said.
Elected San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju praised the defense team, saying they “shed light on stereotypes about people who suffer from substance use disorders.”
“Jails are not the appropriate place to provide treatment,” Raju said. “Jailing people for having substance use disorder increases the risk of overdosing upon release. Many people who are users initially get mislabeled as sellers based on biased and inaccurate interpretations of evidence. Our office connects our clients who have substance use disorders with treatment in a way that facilitates their progress and improves community health.”
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