SF man who spent 340 days in jail found not guilty
(KRON) — A San Francisco jury acquitted Muhammad Abdullah, 21, following incidents in the Castro District that investigators falsely painted as hate crimes, defense attorneys said.
Despite having no prior criminal record of battery, theft, assault, and hate crime allegations, as well as being in the midst of a mental health crisis, Abdullah ended up spending over 340 days in police custody.
The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office said police misrepresented facts in their report concerning Abdullah’s case and failed to properly investigate a separate June 5 incident.
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During testimony for Abdullah’s case, an SFPD officer admitted that he had misrepresented the facts in a police report from June 3.
The report wrongly stated that Abdullah had attacked someone unprovoked when, in reality, it was the other person who attacked Abdullah, defense attorneys said.
Offended by a sign Abdullah was carrying, the man then grabbed him from behind, causing Abdullah to defend himself.
The jury acquitted Abdullah of battery and of a separate hate crime charge.
Experts also testified that Abdullah was in the midst of a mental health crisis on June 5 when he had another interaction that police wrongly concluded was an assault.
On that day, police said that two men thought Abdullah threw a glass bottle that hit one of their feet from behind.
Despite thinking Abdullah attacked the two men, police failed to gather any forensic evidence or available surveillance footage to support that claim, defense attorneys said.
Jurors acquitted Abdullah of an assault with a deadly weapon charge and hate crime allegations, defense attorneys said.
The jury also acquitted him of the petty theft of a Pride flag that he was accused of stealing from a flower shop earlier that day.
“The District Attorney and the court rejected an earlier motion to admit Abdullah into a Mental Health Diversion program, which could have helped him access important treatment resources out of custody,” Deputy Public Defender Deborah Awolope said.
“Instead, Abdullah spent 340 days in jail with minimal access to treatment. After the jury acquitted him of all charges, he was released from jail late at night with no plan for his future treatment,” Awolope said.
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