Does (Candidate) Judge Thompson Prioritize Fentanyl Dealers’ Pretrial Freedom Over the Public’s Safety?

 Because recidivism, the data show, that when people are held in custody, the likelihood of recidivism goes up potentially.  And even in lawyer math, that suggests that it’s compounded; and so that there’s a greater risk when you keep people in custody and don’t allow them to pursue legal means to ameliorate their lives. And that has an adverse effect on public safety.

                                                         Department 9 Superior Court Judge Patrick S. Thompson

                                                                                       August 26, 2022

Despite having no experience in criminal law, Judge Patrick Thompson was appointed by Governor Newsom to the San Francisco Superior Court only six months before the present case.  

Appearing before Judge Patrick Thompson in Department 9 was Jefferson Arrechaga.  Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Hunt was advocating that as a professional fentanyl dealer, Arrechaga’s release back into the public before his trial was a risk to the public’s safety.  Or, how many lives could be saved by keeping a prolific fentanyl distributors, like Arrechaga, in custody longer?  Hunt noted, “The Constitution specifically states that public safety and the safety of the victim shall be the primary consideration. 

Based on Thompson’s Boudin-ish comments, his primary concern was not the safety of the public, but Arrechaga’s freedom before his trial.  San Francisco voters should be concerned about another judge so averse to custody.

SF District Attorney George Gascon’s lasting effects on the public’s safety

George Gascon, was lifelong Republican, but as he prepared to run for San Francisco District Attorney, he flipped parties to register as a Democrat.  During his eight-year tenure as San Francisco’s DA,^[i] Gascon feared that Honduran drug dealers convicted under narcotics statutes might be deported.

Gascon’s solution was to prosecute the sale of drugs as a misdemeanor under the California Penal Code Section 32.  This law, titled “Accessory After the Fact,” essentially means it may only be a misdemeanor crime to aid a third-party in committing a felony.  Never mind that the drug dealer might have been arrested with no other human within 500 yards, Gascon still employed Section 32 to protect the drug dealers from possibly being deported.  Police officers sometimes refer to Gascon’s creative use of Section 32 as the invisible conspirator loophole.

How Judge Thompson compounded Gascon’s invisible conspirator loophole to keep Arrechaga on the streets (Gascon’s gift that keeps on giving.)

1.     In 2012, Arrechaga was arrested with a large quantity of drugs in his possession, but Gascon let him plead to the misdemeanor invisible conspirator loophole of Section 32.

2.     February 2013, Arrechaga was caught with a large quantity of drugs.  Gascon didn’t prosecute a new case, but instead just revoked Arrechaga’s probation. 

3.     Though not in Gascon’s jurisdiction, Arrechaga was also arrested in 2013 with possession of heroin for sale in Alameda County.

4.     September 2014, Arrechaga was arrested with a large quantity of drugs, and again, DA Gascon used the misdemeanor invisible conspirator loophole of Section 32 to avoid deportation issues.

5.     December 2016, Arrechaga arrested again, but Gascon determined there was a lack of evidence.

6.     July 2018, Arrechaga arrested again with a large quantity of drugs.  And again, Gascon let Arrechaga plead to the invisible conspirator law—but this time as a felony, which ensured that Arrechaga was still not convicted of a “narcotics crime” and there would be no deportation issues.

7.     April 2019, Arrechaga was caught with a large quantity of drugs, but Gascon let the record of Arrechaga’s arrest be sealed.

8.     July 2019, Arrechaga was arrested with a large quantity of drugs, and again Gascon let this arrest of Arrechaga to be sealed.

January 2020, Chesa Boudin became San Francisco’s DA.

9.     October 2020, Arrechaga arrested for violating a stay-away order from Turk and Hyde Streets.

Chesa Boudin was recalled, and Brooke Jenkins became San Francisco’s DA

(10.)  August 2022, Arrechaga’s current case

Per the court transcripts,^[ii] on August 25, 2022, SFPD arrested Arrechaga, an Oakland resident, with “over half a kilogram (“kilo”) of controlled, illegal substances.  Of that, 170.9 grams tested presumptive positive for fentanyl.  Two digital scales (to weigh the fentanyl) and $3,000 in US currency.”

The subsequent day in Department 9, Judge Thompson had to determine whether Arrechaga’s release before his trial was a risk to the public’s safety.  Despite Arrechaga’s nine previous narcotics engagements with law enforcement (above), Thompson analyzed, “There has been only one conviction within the last five years.”  While technically correct, it seems that Thompson intentionally disregarded several pertinent facts:

·      The previous day’s arrest was Arrechaga’s fifth arrest for selling drugs in “the last five years,”

·      Chesa Boudin was the San Francisco District Attorney for 2 ½ of the previous five years,^[iii] which discouraged SFPD from making drug arrests because Boudin did not convict any drug dealers.  Thus, we can conclude that this blank spot on Arrechaga’s arrest resume was attributable to San Francisco not having a prosecutor and not that Arrechaga suddenly wore a halo,

·      That it was only because of Gascon’s lenient prosecution gifts to Arrechaga that he had only one conviction.  And in that single conviction, Gascon let him plead to the invisible conspirator law to circumvent a felony under the narcotics statutes.

Hunt presented that in the current case, Arrechaga had enough fentanyl “to kill 85,400 people” and that the felony conviction under Section 32 initially started out as a felony arrest for “possession of controlled substances with intent to sell.”  However, Thompson chose to ignore the substance of Arrechaga’s extensive rap sheet and relied on the technicality, “But what was the plea (to)?”  Hunt responded, “The plea was to a felony violation of Penal Code 32, accessory after the fact”—the invisible conspirator loophole.

Perhaps, with only an expertise in business and antitrust litigation, Thompson was unaware of the extent of how Gascon’s use of Section 32 softened Arrechaga’s narcotics sales record.  But more likely, Judge Thompson’s comments at the beginning of this article seem to indicate he not only understands Gascon’sinvisible conspirator loophole, but he subscribes to the progressive anti-consequences philosophy and has been willing to perpetuate its effects on SF streets. 

Sources tell me that Arrechaga has disappeared off the drug dealing radar.  Either he was picked up in a federal narcotics operation in the Tenderloin, or he recognized that the days of Boudin have been replaced by a DA that prosecutes. 

Upcoming Judicial election for Judge Thompson’s seat

San Francisco voters frequently question why the city is in the state it is in.  Fortunately, Thompson is being challenged in the March 5, 2024 election by a 22-year veteran San Francisco Assistant District Attorney, Jean Myungjin Roland.  A Lowell graduate for you curious locals.  Roland’s motivation to become a prosecutor originated after her Korean grandparents were the victims of a brutal hot prowl burglary in SF.  And in full disclosure, Roland was the prosecutor on some of my narcotics cases when I was with SFPD.

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^[i] January 9, 2011 to October 19, 2019.

^[ii] Court number 22 009486

^[iii] January 1, 2020 through July 8, 2022