The San Francisco District Attorney's office made the right call when it decided not to waste resources on refiling several criminal charges against Willie Adams. Adams, who tried for years to become a San Francisco Patrol Special Police officer, will probably never find employment in security or law enforcement after sustaining guilty verdicts on weapons and other charges. He was acquitted of eight charges after a lengthy trial, but the hung jury could not agree on seven other counts. District Attorney George Gasc—n and the prosecutors deserve credit for dismissing those remaining counts.
Adams, 47, is a gay black man living with HIV. He was a protege of the late Castro Special Patrol Officer Jane Warner, who for years sought city approval for him to become a patrol special. He was arrested over four years ago, three months after he filed a discrimination suit against the city, which was later dismissed, because he was rejected as a patrol special for "moral turpitude." In his lawsuit, Adams said that he had told a police sergeant about two criminal offenses that had been expunged from his record and were over 20 years old. Adams also had the misfortune of dating a man who turned out to be a police informant and tipped off the cops. Interestingly, the informant had been let go because it turned out he was unreliable, Adams and his attorney Randall Knox said.
The trial exposed the murky relationship between the city and the patrol specials. In fact, one of the charges Adams was found not guilty of was impersonating a police officer because patrol special police are not police officers, as the San Francisco Police Department clearly states on its website. Patrol special police are regulated by the San Francisco Police Commission and sworn in by the police chief. Patrol specials own certain beats and patrol those sectors, which are generally paid for by merchants. In short, they do more than standard security guards but do not have all the capabilities of a sworn police officer. They follow some procedures and regulations of the SFPD.
The police department, in general, often doesn't look kindly on patrol specials because they do jobs that off-duty cops could be doing, for a lot more money. Hence it has been an intricate and delicate balance in the city for many years.
With the DA's decision, Adams does not have to face a retrial and can get on with his life. His conviction on one felony of not registering a gun and several misdemeanors likely means he will not be able to find work as a security guard, much less as a patrol special. The assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case acknowledged as much when she told us that the "defendant is no longer going to be able to do what he was doing before and that's a good result for me."
The DA's decision to end its prosecution is a good result for Adams.
A Fox flub
When the Republican presidential candidates gather Thursday night in Iowa, ahead of this weekend's Ames Straw Poll, at least one declared candidate will not be standing on stage. Openly gay Fred Karger, who has been campaigning in New Hampshire and Iowa like the other candidates, was ruled ineligible by Fox News, sponsor of the debate. As we report, the network required Karger to show he had earned an average of 1 percent in five national polls of "most recent polling." Karger maintains that he met those criteria, although Fox disputes the polls that he cited.