Why Are Judges and Public Defenders Undermining Mayor Lurie’s Fentanyl State of Emergency
A couple hours after hearing, visiting judge admits she doesn’t even remember the case
The San Francisco Standard made Francis Rivas-Garay a famous fentanyl salesman. On Columbus Day 2024, after being Mirandized, Rivas-Garay told SFPD officers that he came from Honduras to San Francisco just to sell drugs because he could not find other work and that he was NOT trafficked here.
Let’s review Rivas-Garay’s professional achievements in the Tenderloin:
1) April 2024: Rivas-Garay was arrested for selling fentanyl at Polk and Willow Alley. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins filed charges, but the judge dismissed the case.
2) October 2024: Two-tenths of a mile from his first arrest, SFPD officers from Tenderloin Station arrested Rivas-Garay after observing him make numerous narcotics sales. The Tenderloin officers found approximately 3 ounces of fentanyl[i] and one ounce of methamphetamine in Rivas-Garay’s possession. It was after this arrest that Rivas-Garay refuted Chesa Boudin and the SF public defender’s union’s wishful excuse that all Honduran drug dealers are trafficked to SF against their will.
Because of this arrest, the courts issued an order that Rivas-Garay could not come within 450 feet of the 700 Block of O’Farrell Street.
3) November 2024: Within one-tenth of a mile from his previous arrest, SFPD officers from Central Station arrested Rivas-Garay with an ounce of fentanyl, two ounces of methamphetamine, and half of an ounce of cocaine.
4) December 2024: 381 feet from his previous arrest, SFPD officers from Tenderloin Station arrested Rivas-Garay with one ounce of fentanyl and one ounce of methamphetamine. DA Jenkins also charged Rivas-Garay for selling fentanyl while was he was released with other pending fentanyl cases (California Penal Code 12022.1(b).) And Rivas-Garay was also charged with violating the (now totaling) three stayaway orders from the Tenderloin.
5) March 2025: At 5th and Mission Streets, Rivas-Garay sold fentanyl to an undercover SFPD officer.
After the March 26, 2025 arrest of Rivas-Garay, his fifth arrest in the past 12 months, it was obvious to DA Jenkins that if he were released back into the public, he was going to continue selling fentanyl, which was a huge safety risk to the public. Jenkins asked Judge Sylvia Husing to hold Rivas-Garay in custody until his court date.
For the Rivas-Garay arraignment, Husing was acting as a visiting judge. She will be 80 years old in August and retired from the San Bernadino bench exactly 22 years earlier.[ii]
Over Jenkin’s objection, Husing released Rivas-Garay back into the public.
The SF Standard’s interpretation of allowing Rivas-Garay to continue selling fentanyl
1) On March 31, 2025, the SF Standard published the following headline:
The Standard’s headline is factually incorrect because Rivas-Gary is back on the streets.
2) It is highly unusual for a judge to comment on an open case. In a recent SF Chronicle article, Chesa Boudin stated, “Judges are prohibited from speaking to the public about pending cases.” Nevertheless, Judge Husing made the following comments:
Here are the severe “terms and conditions” that Judge Husing imposed: Rivas-Garay was assigned to the fancy-titled Assertive Case Management (ACM), which is run by Adult Probation. Ankle monitors are no longer used in San Francisco, so for 24 hours per day, Rivas-Garay’s whereabouts is unknown. He can essentially sell fentanyl on the streets with the sole requirement that he must visit a probation officer every once in a while. Judge Husing referring to these as conditions, is really a stretch.
3) Public defender Tataina Howard said that Rivas-Garay’s release will “allow him to keep his job while his charges are pending.” The same fentanyl dealer that, under Miranda, said he could not find work, is painted as employable by the public defender. His arrest, only five days before, occurred at 11:00pm. I wonder what time Rivas-Garay was planning to wakeup the next morning to get to the job Howard describes. Talk about Seventh Street fiction.
Why are judges and public defenders not onboard with Mayor Lurie’s fentanyl state of emergency
On February 12, 2025, Mayor Daniel Lurie initiated a fentanyl state of emergency. Lurie’s act would allow more funds to be allocated to the crisis. Yet, to keep the fentanyl flowing, public defenders like Tataina Howard make us stories about defendants needing to be back on the streets because they have nonexistent jobs.
Worse, it seems visiting Judge Husing didn’t pay much attention to how many open cases Rivas-Garay had rung up—four. Per the Standard article, after court had concluded on Monday March 31st, the judge couldn’t even remember the Rivas-Garay case from earlier that day:
I’ve been to court on numerous narcotics cases. Four open cases is an outlier-- an extreme situation. It makes one wonder if the judge even glanced at the four police reports on Rivas-Garay. Or did she just send Rivas-Garay through the revolving door of the fentanyl assembly line so we can keep the morgue busy with two overdoses per day? How many more people have to die at the hands of Rivas-Garay’s enterprise before judges and public defenders are held accountable?
[i] The weights of all narcotics seized are approximations.
[ii] March 25, 2003.
Thank you very much for crisp factual reporting on this important topic. I greatly appreciate that you're highlighting a topic of great concern to the public, and providing reporting that, hopefully, will come to the attention of our elected representatives (I will be forwarding it to those). Please continue your excellent work!
Just another Marxist judge, bought and compromised…the judicial system is as wrecked as the education system..the medical system the whole of government.The state of commiefornia must be DOGED….yeah, not likely..