A preliminary hearing in the case of a man arrested on suspicion of multiple attacks in the Castro neighborhood has been pushed back multiple times and was again continued.
The hearing in the case of Zero Triball, 36, was to be held Tuesday, January 10, but has now been continued to January 19, according to officials.
Triball, who has been arrested a number of times since 2020 for alleged physical attacks on various people throughout the Castro neighborhood, was booked on December 10. He is currently being held in San Francisco County Jail on 15 separate charges, including battery with serious bodily injury, assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury, child endangerment, assault with a deadly weapon, contempt of court, vandalism, second-degree robbery, and assault. He is being held on $101,000 bond.
Triball remains in the custody of the San Francisco Sheriff's Department. Gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman had blasted the "revolving door" that has seen Triball bounce in and out of care numerous times to the detriment of both himself and the community in a letter to Superior Court Judge A. Melissa Chun.
Chun moved consideration of the case to Department 16, the courtroom of Judge Eric Fleming, during a hearing Wednesday, January 4. It is there that a witness is slated to give testimony.
Fleming originally slated the hearing for Thursday, pending the availability of the witness, saying that Wednesday's atmospheric river left no time that day for consideration.
According to Randy Quezada, the public information officer for San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, the hearing was moved to Friday at 1:30 p.m. Midday Friday the hearing was moved to January 25, then by 4 p.m. Friday it was slated for Tuesday, January 10.
When asked the reasons for the multiple delays, Quezada told the B.A.R., "the case was continued to Tuesday, when we expect it to continue."
Triball was accused by Bill Lemon, executive director of the Castro Country Club, a sober space in the LGBTQ neighborhood, of holding the Castro "hostage" through his alleged assaults and acts of terror, as the B.A.R. previously reported.
Greg Rojas, who has lived in the Castro for 24 years and was allegedly attacked by Triball on Halloween last year as he was leaving a bar in the neighborhood, was prepared to offer his own statement to Chun at the hearing at which the judge continued the matter to this week. But Chun encouraged him to "hold your statement" so that Rojas could offer testimony under oath during cross-examination by lawyers.
Updated, 1/06/23: This story has been updated with a comment from the DA's office.
Updated, 1/11/23: This article has been updated with the hearing continued to January 19.
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