Man accused of selling drugs in SF was coerced, jury rules in unprecedented verdict

Ismail Ramsey, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, did not respond to requests for comment for this story. However, Ramsey told KQED in July that the approach has been used in more than 100 Tenderloin cases to date.

According to Raju, cases are “remitted” to federal court, which prevents the public defender’s office from getting involved. He noted that of the seven trials in which his office has conducted a human trafficking defense in the past two years, two ended in guilty verdicts, four ended in a jury indecisiveness, and the most recent resulted in an acquittal.

Jenkins’ only opponent in the November election, Ryan Khojasteh, supports federal authorities helping to arrest drug dealers, but he said agencies should focus more on drug dealers and drug cartels.

“When it comes to really competently and holistically addressing the drug trade in our city, we have to go after those at the top to make a meaningful difference,” he said. “You can lock up one small-time drug dealer and tomorrow three will be in their place.”

One way to do that, Khojasteh suggested, is to get suspects to share confidential information in exchange for a favorable settlement, which could include protected residency in the country.

“We need to find out who is forcing these people,” he said.

Meanwhile, mayoral candidates have largely voiced support for federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies’ crackdown on drug trafficking in the city.

Former Supervisor and Interim Mayor Mark Farrell has called for a fentanyl emergency, which would free up more funding and send the National Guard to areas like the Tenderloin to continue the effort.

“Our sanctuary city policy was never intended to house criminals, or those who advocate death on our streets. Mayor Breed has had six years to do everything in her power to make a meaningful difference on our streets, and her latest efforts come too late for San Francisco,” Farrell said.

Supervisor Ahsha Safai, who immigrated to the U.S. from Iran as a child, is a strong supporter of sanctuary city policies. But she says drug dealers need to be held accountable as overdose rates remain epidemic and neighborhoods struggle with the consequences of street drug dealing.

“I’m sure there are a handful of cases where someone is legitimately trafficked. But at the end of the day, people are selling an extremely deadly weapon, this drug, on our streets,” he said. “And the federal government decides to step in and fix something that the local government and the mayor have let get out of hand, quite frankly.”

Mayor London Breed, for her part, has praised the federal government’s performance under her administration.

Jeff Cretan, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said the city “needed support to prosecute these crimes” and that Breed believes the federal government can be effective in doing so. “The devastation that fentanyl is causing in our city and across the country is powerful,” Cretan said. “While we are not changing our (sanctuary city) laws here locally, there is a need for more enforcement to stop the flow of this drug.”