Kamala Wayback Machine


Q. How much did crime rates go up in San Francisco from Harris’ election in 2003 through 2008? And how much did they go down in the rest of California?
A. Between 2003 and 2008, the statewide homicide rate decreased by 16 percent, but San Francisco’s homicide rate increased by 32 percent. The statewide rate of violent crime decreased by 15 percent, and San Francisco’s violent crime rate increased by 10 percent. And in 2008, San Francisco County had the highest robbery rate in the state, with an increase of 26 percent from 2003. [California Department of Justice, Criminal Justice Statistics Center, Crime and Clearance Data File, 2008]
Q. Why do background checks on prosecution witnesses matter? Why does it matter that Harris’ office failed to do them?
A. The Supreme Court ruled in Brady v. Maryland that prosecutors were responsible for turning over to the defense any evidence that may be favorable to the defense — and the failure to do so violates due process. [Federal Judicial Center, accessed 5/17/10] Kamala Harris‘ office failed to disclose witnesses with criminal backgrounds to the defense and, as a result, thousands of convictions have been put in jeopardy.
Many district attorneys around the state have a policy to conduct background checks and a disclosure process. By failing to do the same, Kamala Harris has opened the door for potentially very dangerous felons to be released. [San Francisco Chronicle, 5/04/10]
Q. What did Kamala Harris do to stop the cocaine-skimming scandal at San Francisco’s drug testing lab?
A. Nothing. In November 2009, an assistant district attorney raised the red flag that there were systemic problems at the lab. By February 2010, top officials from San Francisco’s law enforcement community launched an investigation and met with the district attorney’s office — without Harris, who has too busy raising money on the East Coast for her campaign. [San Francisco Chronicle, 3/15/10; KamalaHarris.org]
Q. How many drug cases has Kamala Harris’ office been forced to drop as a result of the cocaine-skimming scandal she did nothing to stop?
A. As of April 2010, over 600 cases were dismissed and an additional 450 were unable to be filed. [San Francisco Chronicle, 5/06/10; Associated Press, 4/25/10] San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi has estimated the number could reach as high as 40,000. [San Francisco Chronicle, 4/20/10]
Q. Why is crime going up in San Francisco when Kamala Harris says she has a high conviction rate?
A. Despite Kamala Harris‘ overall conviction rate, felony convictions for cases that actually go to trial and reach a jury verdict have declined significantly, per an SF Weekly cover story.
“In 2009, San Francisco prosecutors won a lower percentage of their felony jury trials than their counterparts at district attorneys’ offices covering the 10 largest cities in California.
“In the first quarter of 2010, things got worse. During that time, Harris’ office secured guilty verdicts in just 53 percent of its felony trials — a remarkable figure, revealing that defendants accused of serious crimes who took their case to trial had an even one-in-two shot at winning an acquittal. By contrast, the most recent recorded statewide average was 83 percent, according to statistics from the California Judicial Council.” [SF Weekly, 5/05/10]
- San Franciscans already put Kamala Harris to the test on crime — and she failed.
- Crime Went Up… As murders and violent crime went down around California from 2003 to 2008, they went up in San Francisco on Harris’ watch. …DA’s Office Went Down.
- Harris’ office did nothing to stop cocaine skimming at San Francisco’s drug lab and jeopardized hundreds of felony convictions by failing to do background checks on witnesses.
May 21, 2010
Politico: Dept. of cocaine skimming
This isn’t good for Kamala Harris’s ambitions to be the next California attorney general:
San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’ office violated defendants’ rights by hiding damaging information about a police drug lab technician and was indifferent to demands that it account for its failings, a judge declared Thursday.
Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo stopped short of granting a request by more than 40 drug defendants that their cases be dismissed because of prosecutorial misconduct, saying that decision must be left up to the judges hearing their cases.
But in a scathing ruling, the judge concluded that prosecutors had failed to fulfill their constitutional duty to tell defense attorneys about problems surrounding Deborah Madden, the now-retired technician at the heart of the cocaine-skimming scandal that led police to shut down the drug analysis section of their crime lab.
Prosecutors, unable to vouch for the reliability of Madden’s work, have dismissed more than 600 drug cases since the scandal became public in February.
May 20, 2010
Judge rips Harris’ office for hiding problems
San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’ office violated defendants’ rights by hiding damaging information about a police drug lab technician and was indifferent to demands that it account for its failings, a judge declared Thursday.
Superior Court Anne-Christine Massullo stopped short of granting a request by more than 40 drug defendants that their cases be dismissed because of prosecutorial misconduct, saying that decision must be left up to the judges hearing their cases.
But in a scathing ruling, the judge concluded that prosecutors had failed to fulfill their constitutional duty to tell defense attorneys about problems surrounding Deborah Madden, the now-retired technician at the heart of the cocaine-skimming scandal that led police to shut down the drug analysis section of their crime lab.
Prosecutors, unable to vouch for the reliability of Madden’s work, have dismissed more than 600 drug cases since the scandal became public in February.
Madden testified at trials before leaving the lab in December. Under a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, district attorneys are obligated to hand over to the defense information about prosecution witnesses that could be used to challenge their credibility.
Domestic Violence Case
Madden was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence in 2008, which should have been reported to defense lawyers. Last fall, Harris’ lead drug prosecutor complained about Madden’s unreliability in a memo to her bosses, information that was also wrongly kept from the defense, the judge found.
Police have admitted they erred in not telling prosecutors about Madden’s conviction, and Harris’ office has acknowledged that it relied on police to volunteer such information without checking her criminal record.
Massullo wrote that top drug prosecutor Sharon Woo’s Nov. 19 memo about Madden showed that prosecutors “at the highest levels of the district attorney’s office knew that Madden was not a dependable witness at trial and that there were serious concerns regarding the crime lab.”
Woo wrote that crime lab officials believed Madden was unhappy in her job and was intentionally sabotaging the drug analysis unit. None of that, however, was conveyed to defense attorneys in cases in which Madden had analyzed drug evidence.
Violation of Rights
The failure by Harris’ office “to produce information actually in its possession regarding Madden and the crime lab is a violation of the defendants’ constitutional rights,” Massullo wrote.
She said Harris’ office had the “duty to implement some type of procedure to secure and produce information relevant to Madden’s criminal history.” But Massullo said her repeated requests that prosecutors explain why they did not have such procedures were met with “a level of indifference.”
Massullo refused the defendants’ blanket motion to dismiss all their cases, saying each must be considered individually. Harris was not available for comment, but her spokeswoman, Erica Terry Derryck, seized on the judge’s refusal to dismiss the charges as a victory and downplayed her criticisms.
“The bottom line,” Derryck said in a statement, was whether the judge would drop all the cases at once. “She didn’t. Not one case.”
Working on Reforms
She noted that “the law requires prosecutors to turn over information that they may not even have. In order to do that, we need the right policies and a real partnership with the police to make sure we have all the information we need. That’s why we’re instituting reforms to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Massullo was insistent that prosecutors get busy on disclosing witnesses’ pasts. “Your office needs to comply,” she told Woo in court. “You are responsible for figuring out how to do it.”
Public Defender Jeff Adachi, whose office represents many of the defendants involved in Thursday’s ruling, said Massullo’s findings would provide ample ammunition when individual cases come before judges.
The ruling “really hits the ball out of the park,” Adachi said, “by setting forth multiple failures by the district attorney to disclose evidence.”
Who Said That History Can’t Be Erased?
- May
21 Politico: Dept. of cocaine skimming
This isn’t good for Kamala Harris’s ambitions to be the next California attorney general. - May
20 Judge rips Harris’ office for hiding problems
San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’ office violated defendants’ rights by hiding damaging information about a police drug lab technician and was indifferent to demands that it account for its failings, a judge declared Thursday. - May
20 Judge Blames D.A. Kamala Harris for Crime-Lab Scandal
A Superior Court judge has blamed SF District Attorney Kamala Harris for the debacle that has grown out of misconduct at the SFPD crime lab, saying Harris’ office ignored its constitutional obligation to turn over information about police employees’ criminal backgrounds to defense attorneys. - May
20 Lawyer advising DA in scandal is political donor
A well-known private defense attorney whose “unimpeachable judgment and independence” will assist District Attorney Kamala Harris with a brewing scandal and has contributed thousands of dollars, and public support, to Harris’ political aspirations. - May
19 Police Chief Says He Told Harris About Potential Brady Issues 5 Months Before She Claims To Have Known
Three days ago the San Francisco Chronicle reported that San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon first told Kamala Harris about the Brady issues related to problematic police officer testimony in September of 2009. - May
13 KAMALA HARRIS’ OPPOSITION TO THE DEATH PENALTY & REFUSAL TO ENFORCE THE LAW
Harris’ rhetoric and record of nearly a decade prove her to be out of the mainstream of Californians, and even Democrats, when it comes to the death penalty. But now that Harris is running for Attorney General in a state where the majority of voters support the death penalty, she says she would follow the law. She just hasn’t “so far.” - May
11 MORE HOT AIR FROM HARRIS CAMPAIGN AS SHE INFLATES HER RECORD
We’re glad that Kamala Harris, the same woman who hired Meg Whitman’s ghostwriter to write her book about crime-fighting in an attempt to fool California voters into thinking she’s serious about crime, has brought up the topic of inflated records. - May
10 KAMALA HARRIS’ PROBLEMS AS SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY CONTINUE TO MAKE NATIONAL NEWS
Today’s follow-up story about the San Francisco crime lab and the District Attorney’s office on CNN was no less damaging for S.F. D.A. Kamala Harris than Friday’s piece – this time featuring Gary Delagnes, President of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, explaining once again that the District Attorney’s office is responsible for checking the background of witnesses they put on the stand to prosecute their cases. - May
07 TOO BIG TO HIDE…
KAMALA HARRIS’ SCANDAL MAKES NATIONAL NEWS WHILE THE CHRONICLE EDITORIALIZES THAT HER OFFICE HAS “SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS” - May
06 KAMALA HARRIS’ NEW AD – “I DID IT IN SAN FRANCISCO.” SHE SURE DID…
Today the Kamala Harris campaign “released” an ad that they claim is “airing” one day after Attorney General candidate Chris Kelly announced that he was airing his TV ad talking about his background and why he’s the candidate with the right experience to be California’s next Attorney General. - May
06 In case you missed it, San Francisco Weekly published a “must-read” piece on San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, entitled: “A Lack of Conviction”
As D.A. Kamala Harris Campaigns To Be Attorney General, Her Success Rate In Felony Trials Has Dropped Below That Of Any Big-City Prosecutor In California. - May
06 HERE’S WHAT SHE DID IN SAN FRANCISCO
Kamala Harris says in her new ad that “she did it in San Francisco,” touting her record as the city’s District Attorney. Below please find a video response from the Kelly campaign about what Kamala Harris really “did” for San Francisco. - May
04 HARRIS AND HER OFFICE FACING EXPLOSIVE NEW ALLEGATIONS OF PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT
Today’s San Francisco Chronicle exposes more serious problems in San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’ office, with allegations of prosecutorial misconduct swirling as Harris’ office continued to put witnesses on the stand and failed to disclose their criminal records to defense attorneys. The actions of Harris’ office could put hundreds of felony convictions in jeopardy. - May
03 WHO IS THE ONLY CANDIDATE IN THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S RACE TO USE THE SAME WRITER AS MEG WHITMAN?
For all of her campaign’s talk about Meg Whitman, it seems San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris is trying to distract everyone from a little-known fact – Kamala Harris and Meg Whitman share the same “ghost-writer.” - Apr
28 “Chronicles of Kamala and the Crime Lab” — Chapter 3: Time to Answer the Question, Kamala
Since news of the San Francisco crime lab scandal broke more than a month ago, Kamala Harris hasn’t answered the tough questions about what she knew and when she knew it – and even skirted pointed questions on this issue during her bizarre laughter-filled press conference last Friday. - Apr
27 “Chronicles of Kamala and the Crime Lab”
Chapter 2: Harris Takes Another East Coast Excursion to Raise Money for her Campaign while More Crime Lab Cases Jeopardized - Apr
26 WHAT’S SO FUNNY, KAMALA?
KAMALA HARRIS LAUGHS HER WAY THROUGH PRESS CONFERENCE ABOUT CRIME LAB SCANDAL, SAYS A REPORTER KNOWS MORE THAN SHE DOES ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENING IN HER OWN OFFICE - Apr
24 Kamala Harris: The Only D.A. FOR Crime
Is that a spoon stuck up your nose or are you just happy to see me? San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’ aspirations to become attorney general are hardly helped by the widening drug lab scandal in the city, where hundreds of felony cases have been put at risk because a veteran police lab technician kept sniffing up all the evidence. - Apr
23 “Chronicles of Kamala and the Crime Lab” — Chapter 1: Harris MIA as Crime Lab Implodes
As the people of San Francisco continue to be barraged daily by bad news and even worse news coming out of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’ office, which has been releasing hundreds of criminals onto the city’s streets as a result of the S.F. crime lab scandal, many are scratching their heads and wondering how this could’ve happened. - Apr
21 You Can Run But You Can’t Hide
Though Kamala Harris has been noticeably absent in nearly every media report involving the San Francisco crime lab scandal and San Francisco’s frightening rise in crime rates, she simply isn’t going to be able to hide for much longer given the swarm of media reports released everyday. - Apr
17 Ripped from the Headlines – D.A. Kamala Harris, Missing in Action
Though the headlines from San Francisco newspapers over the past few days are tremendously damaging for San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, she’s yet to provide any answers about her botched handling of the San Francisco crime lab scandal and now appears to be taking steps to minimize the political damage resulting from her office setting hundreds of hardened criminals free. - Apr
14 Public Defender Jeff Adachi Says D.A. Kamala Harris Blowing Off Crime Lab Scandal – and Him
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi sharply criticized District Attorney Kamala Harris’ handling of a growing scandal at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab today, saying the city’s top prosecutor had ignored repeated requests to meet with him and failed to disclose the full extent of problems at the lab. - Apr
13 Kamala Harris – Still running scared
More than six weeks after the Department of Justice released disturbing statistics about the increase in San Francisco’s crime rates during SF DA Kamala Harris’ tenure as District Attorney, Harris continues to run scared from her record. - Apr
08 KELLY CAMPAIGN RELEASES VIDEO SHOWING LOCAL OUTRAGE AT HARRIS’ INACTION ON RISING CRIME RATES IN SAN FRANCISCO, FAILURE TO DEAL WITH CRIME LAB SCANDAL
Today the Chris Kelly for Attorney General campaign released a video showing the local outrage at San Francisco’s increasing crime rates and District Attorney Kamala Harris’ inaction and failure to deal with the San Francisco crime lab scandal. As a result of the growing crime lab scandal, Harris’ office has dropped hundreds of criminal drug cases, allowing hardened criminals back onto the streets of San Francisco. - Apr
05 HARRIS’ RESPONSE ON CRIME LAB SCANDAL: NO ACCOUNTABILITY AND A “RECIPE” FOR DISASTER
More than two months after Department of Justice statistics confirmed that violent crimes and homicides are on the rise in San Francisco — even as both are decreasing across the rest of the state — San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris has refused to offer an explanation as to why prosecutions are down and crime is up in the city she was elected to protect. - Mar
30 ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDATE CHRIS KELLY CALLS ON SAN FRANCISCO D.A. KAMALA HARRIS TO STOP POLITICAL GRANDSTANDING AND START DOING HER “DAY JOB”
Harris’ Office Releases Thousands More Criminals onto the Streets After San Francisco Crime Lab Scandal, but Harris Refuses to Comment, Tries to “Change the Subject” with AB 32 - Mar
26 HUNDREDS MORE “GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARDS” HANDED OUT IN SAN FRANCISCO ON KAMALA HARRIS’ WATCH
The running tally of suspected criminals who cannot be prosecuted due to a scandal at a San Francisco crime lab continues to grow larger by the day, with 300 drug-related cases being dropped since March 9th. And yet, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris still claims not to have enough evidence to prosecute the crime lab employee responsible for the debacle! - Mar
19 CSI: SAN FRANCISCO — KAMALA HARRIS’ CRIME LAB DEBACLE
In more disturbing news about Kamala Harris’ mismanagement as San Francisco District Attorney, the details surrounding a scandal at a San Francisco crime lab that resulted in the DA dropping 180 criminal cases grow more troubling by the day. - Mar
16 REQUESTING “A PACKET-FULL OF SUNSHINE”
Today the Chris Kelly campaign sent yet another reply to San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’ latest in a series of bureaucratic responses to a public records request made 13 weeks ago seeking basic information on her tenure as District Attorney. - Mar
12 AIN’T NO SUNSHINE WHEN SHE’S DISTRICT ATTORNEY
This week the San Francisco Bay Guardian ran a piece, “Some teeth for the sunshine law,” urging the city’s elected leaders to start enforcing the law passed by the city’s residents to require prompt and open disclosure of public records. But as the Guardian points out, the city’s leaders, including District Attorney Kamala Harris, have failed to enforce the law. - Mar
11 ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDATE CHRIS KELLY CALLS ON SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY KAMALA HARRIS TO STOP STONE-WALLING
Harris Unresponsive to Open Records Request about her Tenure as S.F. District Attorney — What is she Hiding about her Record on Crime? - Mar
02 Kamala Harris – Running as hard as she can (from her record)
The Harris campaign sure kicked up a lot of dust yesterday when they were hightailin’ it away from her record; but when the dust clears, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) statistics simply cannot be ignored or explained away. - Mar
01 New Crime Statistics Cast Serious Doubts on San Francisco D.A. Kamala Harris’ Ability to Protect Californians
California Department of Justice crime statistics show violent crime increase in San Francisco