San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins faces one challenger — a prosecutor she fired who has contrasting views about criminal justice — in her bid for reelection this year. Ryan Khojasteh is backed by progressives, while Jenkins is running on her record that her office has beefed up prosecutions after voters recalled former DA Chesa Boudin two years ago.
It was in the aftermath of that June 2022 recall that Mayor London Breed appointed Jenkins, who formerly worked in the DA's office but left and helped lead the campaign for Boudin's ouster. Voters had become anxious over crime and repeat offenders during Boudin's tenure.
Jenkins was handily elected to finish the remainder of Boudin's term in November 2022 against attorneys Joe Alioto Veronese, Maurice Chenier, and John Hamasaki.
Now, Jenkins, a straight ally, is running for a four-year term. Khojasteh was hired by Boudin in 2020 and fired by Jenkins upon her ascension. Khojasteh, 30, is a graduate of UC Hastings (now UC Law San Francisco) and works at the office of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, who, like Boudin once did, is currently facing a recall effort that recently picked up support from Congressmember Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin).
During the last race, Jenkins fended off criticism about receiving over $100,000 from Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, a nonprofit linked to the Boudin recall effort, though she said she had resigned from Boudin's office to be a volunteer on the effort. More recently, the DA was criticized for hiring Monifa Willis, a longtime friend who is not an attorney, to be her chief of staff.
Different approaches
Nonetheless, Jenkins has remained one of the most popular elected officials in San Francisco. She raised the office's conviction rate for the first time in eight years, Mission Local reported in 2023.
In a questionnaire Jenkins returned to the Bay Area Reporter seeking the endorsement of the paper's editorial board, she stated that she's seeking to center community concerns while tackling the city's biggest problems, which she identified as "the drug crisis, retail theft, property crime, and violence against our AAPI and vulnerable communities." (The B.A.R. did endorse Jenkins last week.)
"I have intently listened to the concerns of residents in historically LGBTQ neighborhoods such as the Castro. Many of these residents and the Castro Merchants Association have communicated to me that they have been victims of burglaries and vandalism," Jenkins stated. "I have sent staff from my investigations unit to assist with active shooter trainings in the Castro to help inform nightlife staff of what to do to protect themselves and community members. My office is working hard to ensure that their concerns are addressed and that offenders who create this unsafe environment are held accountable."
While an assistant district attorney, Jenkins was a dedicated hate crimes prosecutor. She stated in her questionnaire that "especially given the rise in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and violence at a national level, it is imperative that members of our LGBTQ community feel safe."
As DA, Jenkins prosecuted at least two charges of hate crimes against the LGBTQ community. One involved a 2023 incident in the Castro neighborhood where a man was charged with assault and a hate crime charge after he was accused of hitting a man and stealing a Pride flag. Another involved gay District 9 supervisor candidate Trevor Chandler, who was allegedly attacked earlier this year while campaigning by a man who yelled homophobic slurs at him. A jury acquitted the man in the Castro case, and a judge dismissed the hate crime charge in the Chandler case. Jenkins also stated she "recently relaunched the LGBTQ Community Advisory Board in my office."
Khojasteh, a straight ally, stated in his questionnaire that he doesn't feel LGBTQ people are getting justice in San Francisco.
"I recognize that the LGBTQ community has a history of distrusting the police and law enforcement," he stated. "I look to the Compton's Cafeteria Riots, for example, in San Francisco. More recently, I look to the tragedy of Banko Brown's unjustified killing and failure to prosecute. The job of the district attorney is to hold everyone accountable under the law in a fair and impartial manner. I do not believe this is happening in our city."
The Compton's riot, which occurred in August 1966, predated the more well-known Stonewall riots of 1969 in New York City, widely viewed as the birth of the modern day LGBTQ rights movement.
Banko Brown
Less than a year into her tenure, Jenkins declined to file charges against then-security guard Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony in the killing of Brown, an unarmed Black transgender man, at a downtown Walgreens. She almost immediately determined that it was a case of self-defense, though surveillance footage that her office released after heavy public criticism showed Brown retreating.
Brown had allegedly attempted to shoplift $15 in candy. It took until this summer for California Attorney General Rob Bonta to announce his office did not find Jenkins abused her prosecutorial discretion in this case, as the B.A.R. reported, and would not file charges himself against Anthony.
"While I wish this tragedy would have never happened in the first place, my office and I carefully reviewed all of the facts and evidence available and followed the law in making our decision to not charge the suspect in this case," Jenkins stated in her B.A.R. questionnaire. "We take our prosecutorial responsibilities seriously and recognize how important it is that we make decisions on facts, law and our collective prosecutorial judgment, without being swayed by politics. We are committed to fair and ethical prosecutions that our experience tells us we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt and will never shirk our responsibilities for political expediency."
Khojasteh blasted Jenkins in his questionnaire, stating that she "made unnecessary and prejudicial statements that imperiled the case from the start."
"Contrary to what a district attorney should be doing, Jenkins quickly made the defense argument for the suspect — 'the evidence clearly shows that the suspect believed he was in mortal danger and acted in self-defense,'" he continued. "This is an outrageous statement for a prosecutor to make. It is not our job to make the defense case for them. And it is incumbent upon us to allow all the evidence to come through and assess it responsibly. With this statement, as the head of the DA's office, she doomed this case."
Khojasteh promised to bring the Brown case before a grand jury in his first 100 days if he is elected.
Quality of life crimes
Khojasteh stated he has a wider perspective to better serve people involved in the criminal justice system.
"I am the only candidate in this race who has worked as a prosecutor in both the punitive and rehabilitative sides of the criminal justice system," he stated. "My experience informs my perspective of wanting to strike the right balance — a balance between accountability and incarceration with rehabilitation and treatment."
In her questionnaire, Jenkins touted keeping Boudin's innocence commission, "an external advisory body to my office that investigates cases of innocence and wrongful convictions."
"Unfortunately, there are far too many cases of innocent people being behind bars when they shouldn't be," she stated. "My office is committed to ensuring the integrity and longevity of the Innocence Commission for years to come."
Khojasteh countered that Jenkins "has kept it 'alive' in name only."
"Cases have been halted and there has been no movement," Khojasteh stated. "I heard this directly from someone currently serving on the commission. This is unacceptable."
Khojasteh stated he'd be committed to "file charges and prosecute criminal activity" in cases of so-called quality of life crimes, such as smash-and-grabs, but that each case has to be prosecuted in the context of what brings justice to the situation.
"Perhaps a vandalizer has unresolved mental health challenges or substance abuse challenges," Khojasteh stated. "Well, it is within my discretion to refer them to treatment as an alternative to jail to get them the help they need to prevent future vandalisms. This is all a case-by-case basis."
Jenkins stated, in response to the same question about quality of life crimes, that "accountability comes in many different forms."
"For more serious and repeat offenders it may be jail but for others it is often rehabilitation and treatment or even vocational training," she stated. "I believe that we must be putting offenders in a position to be successful through accountability. Simply releasing someone who has committed a crime due to their addiction or mental health issues does not assist them in treating their issues and engaging in pro-social behavior."
Canceled forum
Jenkins and Khojasteh were invited to participate in a League of Women Voters forum in the city's China Basin neighborhood that was to be held October 7. It was canceled, however, because "one of the two candidates could no longer participate due to a family emergency," according to an October 3 email from the league.
"Because we're nonpartisan, we don't hold forums with only one candidate," the league continued.
Khojasteh stated to the B.A.R. that this was the only debate Jenkins had agreed to though she'd been offered four other invitations. He couldn't attend due to "a funeral in Wisconsin," he stated October 7, and that it'd been canceled over a month earlier.
"They tried to push on me a Zoom interview at the airport," he added. "It's baffling behavior."
The Jenkins campaign didn't return a request for comment for this report.
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