Judge (Candidate) Thompson Lets Prolific Fentanyl Dealer Disappear Like D.B. Cooper

Then bait-and-switches court transcripts to fool the Chronicle

Superior Court Judge Patrick Thompson’s retention of his seat is contingent upon the March 5, 2024 election. Thompson is being challenged by Assistant District Attorney Jean Roland. 

I have previously written about how Thompson:

·      Let Ebir Martinez walk out of court before his trial.  A month later, SPFD served a search warrant and found almost a kilo of drugs, including fentanyl that Martinez had left in his residence with his five-year-old who was unsupervised by any adult.

·      Let Jefferson Arrechaga exit court pretrial despite his recent arrest while in the possession of a half kilo of drugs, which included 170 grams of deadly fentanyl.

Rachel Swan, of the Chronicle, recently described

·      how last summer 10 SFPD officers surveilled a car burglary ring operating around Alamo Square. SFPD followed the car to Oakland (what a surprise), where they arrested Hudson with a semiautomatic gun. Don’t I always write that 99.9% of car break-in crews carry heat. 

Hudson had previously been arrested in San Mateo twice for car break-ins.  And in 2018, he was convicted of ripping an iPhone from a woman’s hands and then dragging her as he drove off with her still holding on.  Despite Hudson’s history of violence and being in the possession of a gun, on December 1, 2023, Judge Thompson let him walk out of court pretrial with just an ankle monitor.

Then there’s Thompson’s pretrial release of the prolific fentanyl dealer Erik Ramos Diaz

Erik Ramon Diaz’s arrests:

1)        September 21, 2022, with narcotics possessed for sale at 7^th and Mission Streets.

2)        October 4, 2022, with narcotics possessed for sale at 7^th and Mission Streets.

3)        October 31, 2022, for violating a stay-away- order at 7^th and Mission Streets.

4)        March 4, 2023, with narcotics possessed for sale at 7^th and Stevenson Streets.

5)        March 14, 2023, with narcotics possessed for sale at 7^th and Odd Fellows Way

6)        May 1, 2023, with 45 grams of fentanyl for sale at 7^th and Mission Streets.

Erik’s preliminary hearing in Judge Thompson’s disorderly courtroom

Erik’s pretrial hearing was held in Thompson’s Department 12 on May 17, 2023.^[1]   Erik appeared in custody because of the DA’s office request for his detention when he was arraigned. The judge granted that Erik should remain in custody because he was a danger to the public.

Per the court transcripts, Thompson allowed, Erik’s public defender, Sierra Villaran to chaotically launch 35 objections, and pose 154 questions to just two officers.

Here’s a sample of Villaran’s consequential questions:

Villaran: How did you know it was currency.

SFPD Officer Tynes: It looked like money.

Villaran: Can you describe it?

Officer Tynes: It looks like paper, it has, you know, a greenish color.  It looks like U.S. dollars.

 Villaran: Was the bill folded or unfolded?

Officer Tynes: I don’t remember.

Villaran: Which hand was it exchanged in?

Assistant District Attoney Curtis Boyd: Objection Relevance.

Judge Thompson: 352. Next question.

Later in the transcripts, Villaran returned even another time to the currency issue in an attempt to impeach Officer Tynes: We have that he saw what he believed was money, but he couldn’t remember whether it was (an) unfolded bill or (a) folded bill.

Judge Thompson releases Erik pretrial

Thompson indicated he believe Erik’s business of selling fentanyl to San Franciscans was not a danger to San Franciscans:

This is not a situation where there are threats.

This is not a situation of stalking.

This is not a situation of someone engaged in a murderous rampage. (So Your Honor, if I commit a single murder, you are cool with it?)

ADA Curtis Boyd objected to releasing Erik:  I would just note for the court again, we have five open felony cases.  It appears the defendant just keeps re-offending every time he’s released into the community.

Villaran leaned in with 7^th Street fiction, painting Erik as the victim to distract from the people died from his distribution of fentanyl:

He’s here without parents, without family support, without community, that’s why the connection to the Bay Area Community Resources which is a bilingual trauma base multicultural nonprofit that does wrap.  They will secure him housing.  There is someone who is prepared to pick him up tomorrow morning.  They already have a room for him.  They are ready to receive him.  All who are ready to basically put their arms around him.  (Sorry, wait a sec while I wipe the tears off my keyboard.)

Judge Thompson creates San Francisco’s own D.B. Cooper

From Judge Thompson’s campaign website:

Everyone needs to know if they break the law there will be consequences.  And they need to know that any outcome in a court of law is based on an absolute respect for, and adherence to, our laws.

So, how did Judge Thompson treat Erik?   He let him walk out of his courtroom.  And, like D.B. Cooper, he was never seen again.   Talk about holding people accountable.

Judge Thompson pulls the Boudin bait-and-switch the to the Chronicle

Erik’s disappearance frustrated the prosecutors and the officers that are trying to reduce the fentanyl market in San Francisco.   Statistically, there is a high probability that Erik was responsible for the intentional deaths of some fentanyl users after Thompson let him walk on May 17^th.

When the Chronicle’s Bob Egelko asked Thompson about the controversial release of Erik on May 17^th, Thompson pulled the old bait-and-switch and gave him June court transcripts and blamed ADA Chornobil for not asking for Erik to be held in custody then (see screenshot of Chronicle’s passage below).

From February 12, 2024 Chronicle

Judge Thompson misrepresented the facts to the Chronicle on several accounts:

1)        the District Attorney’s office sought and received detention for Erik at his arraignment,

2)        ADA Boyd is also quoted (above) requesting detention for Erik at the preliminary hearing on May 17, 2023.  Judge Thompson rejected Boyd’s request,

3)        a judge does not need an ADA to request detention, he can make that decision on his own, and

4)        what new arrest or reason could ADA Chornobil have supplied to motivate Thompson to suddenly reverse his May 17, 2023 decision to release Erik?

..... or Ebir Martinez….. or Jefferson Arrechaga…… or Hudson?

Judge Thompson is sneaky

Why did Judge Thompson not provide the Chronicle with the May 17^th transcripts?   A judge, so sneaky that he has to rely on a Boudin-ish bait-and-switch of court transcripts to hide his political views from the public, is someone not worthy of sitting on a San Francisco bench and keeping the public safe.

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^[1] Court number: 23 006481