We know Boudin can talk-the-talk, but does he walk-the-walk?
Boudin’s gun violence hypocrisy
After the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24th, DA Boudin tweeted:
On Saturday May 21st, Central Station officers saw a BMW 650i speeding “15-20 miles per hour over the speed limit” and recklessly changing lanes on eastbound Broadway from Columbus Avenue. Mind you: this was at 4:30 in the morning! The officers made a traffic stop on the BMW and observed the driver, Robeson, had an open bottle of Hennessy Cognac between his leg and the center console.
The clearly visible open container of alcohol provided the probable cause for officers to search the vehicle for further evidence. Officers found a loaded semiautomatic firearm—reported stolen out of Sacramento, counterfeit US currency, and ecstasy pills.
It wasn’t Robeson’s first field trip to San Francisco from his home in Pittsburg. Robeson had previously been convicted of narcotics sales and was arrested for evading SFPD and being a felon in possession of a gun—all pre-Boudin.
Boudin dropped this case against Robeson “in the interest of justice.”
The end of proactive police investigations on suspicious activities
So, for what possible reason did Boudin have to drop the stolen gun case against Robeson? Was Boudin just previewing the reformists’ push to eliminate pretext traffic stops?
A pretext stop occurs when a law enforcement officer pulls a car over for a minor vehicle violation. SFPD Chief Scott is currently wrestling with---or accommodating the progressive Police Commission--proposed rules that would prevent SFPD officers ability to enforce the California Vehicle Code. For instance, under the proposed new rules: SFPD would not be allowed to cite a person for bicycling on the sidewalk and it would become legal to litter from a moving vehicle (I’m not kidding.) Reformists want to eliminate these law enforcement tools that had previously been used to leverage investigations of suspicious activity.
Robeson was clearly speeding, which is not a minor traffic violation. However, Boudin might be providing us with his public defender’s mindset on stretching the application of the reformists’ pretext rule. They will argue that a car speeding at “15 to 20 miles per hour” over the limit at 4:30 in the morning, as in the Robeson incident, should be precluded as a pretext stop. This is what happened with the decriminalization of narcotics, as public defenders frequently fought in court to extend the meaning of “narcotics for personal use” to include 25 individually-wrapped rocks of cocaine. (I’m not kidding.)
Either way, Boudin’s dropping the Robeson case in light of his Twitter post (above), “I will continue to do everything to stop the flow of guns into our communities,” is evidence of his hypocrisy.
Where are the Vision Zero advocates on Boudin kicking traffic stops?
Sadly, despite SFPD’s efforts to enforce speeding violations, on the very next day, within a mile radius of the traffic stop on Robeson for speeding, a speeding taxi killed two pedestrians.
In fact, while the legacy newspapers promote Vison Zero by closing streets and Golden Gate Park to traffic, intentional homicides in San Francisco continue to double the pace of accidental traffic deaths.
But if you are a San Francisco newspaper that wants to hide the year-to-date 10% increase in total crime, it is beneficial to distract the public from the increase in homicides under Boudin (above) with Vision Zero.
Boudin’s ghost gun hypocrisy
In October 2021, DA Chesa Boudin talked-the-talk by filing a lawsuit against three manufacturers of ghost guns.
On May 21st, only twelve hours after SFPD officers pulled over Robeson, officers in the gun investigations unit observed a Ford Fusion parked in the middle of the street adjacent to the old Candlestick Park parking lot. This area is controlled by the “Double Rock” gang.
The SFPD officer later saw the same Ford Fusion double park near Third and Quesada Streets, an area claimed by the “Q Street” gang, a rival to the Double Rock gang. The officers made a traffic stop on the vehicle, which prompted the female driver to immediately exit and distance herself (suspicious move) from the Ford Fusion and her boyfriend, Kiemariah Richmond (21) in the passenger seat.
Richmond is from Oakland and, pre-Boudin, had been arrested for robbery in San Francisco. In the criminal settlement on that case, as part of a tradeoff to serve less time in custody, Richmond agreed that he would concede that law enforcement could search him without probable cause at any time.
Under Boudin, Richmond was arrested for burglary in April 2021, being a felon in possession of a gun in June 2021, and being in possession of a gun in September 2021. Boudin talked-the-talk, using all his favorite synonyms on Richmond’s cases. Boudin filed, charged, took action, held accountable and prosecuted, but ultimately Boudin consolidated the cases and let Richmond plead to a misdemeanor weapons charge.
On May 21st, when the officers approached Richmond, they claimed he appeared to be hiding an olive satchel near his feet. Satchels like this are commonly used to transport guns. Richmond was reluctant to provide his name.(suspicious) An officer asked the driver what was in the satchel. She walked over opened the satchel and produced two guns—one of which was a ghost gun—Boudin’s passionate advocacy against.
As documented on SFPD’s body cameras, she was Mirandized and admitted one gun was hers and the other Richmond’s.
Despite Boudin’s conspicuous display of empathy for the public’s safety and gun violence, he completely dropped the case against Richmond because of a “questionable search.” (—and despite Richmond’s consent to a search condition at any time.) And even though Boudin has prominently displayed concern for the proliferation of ghost guns, he still completely dropped the ghost gun against Richmond.
Does Boudin fear his failure to walk-the-walk will be exposed?
As we enter the final week of the recall initiative on Boudin as District Attorney, it seems peculiar that during his entire campaign, he relied 100% on surrogates to debate for him. It raises the question whether he fears that he might get cornered in a debate about all his failed prosecutions like Robeson and Richmond, contrasted to the virtuous catchphrases he confidently spills on Twitter or to friendly interviewers? For the past two years, Chesa Boudin has not walked-the-walk of a prosecutor, but as a hell of a public defender.
Lou…great article as usual. FACTS DESTROY their argument that DA Boudin is reducing crime and protecting the SF Community. It’s astonishing that week after week you bring forth arrests for serious criminal violations that Boudin “files” or dismisses outright, yet none of the other media outlets fail to mention it. They use Opinion Articles to cover for him. It’s insane. And, you are absolutely correct in your closing. I would love to see an honest debate or even a press conference in which Boudin gets confronted with the final dispositions of all of the cases you highlighted, and then asked to explain the legality of the dispositions he orchestrated. We all know that will never happen.
Great article as always. I appreciate your research and effort. Let’s hope the voters in San Francisco dump Boudin’s ass later this month. Keeping my fingers crossed. 🤞🏼