San Francisco District Attorney's Office
| District Attorney of the City and County of San Francisco | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
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| Type | District attorney |
| Formation | 1856 |
| First holder | Henry H. Byrne |
| Salary | $339,300 (2024) |
| Website | sfdistrictattorney |
The San Francisco District Attorney's Office is the legal agency charged with prosecuting crimes in the City and County of San Francisco, California, under California state law. The current district attorney is Brooke Jenkins. Occupants of this office have gone on to higher elected offices, including: governor of California, United States senator, and vice president of the United States.
History
[edit]After the Consolidation Act of 1856 consolidated San Francisco as a city and a county, Henry H. Byrne was elected as the first District Attorney.[1] Twenty-seven people have held the title since Byrne, including Boudin.[1]
Kamala D. Harris (2004–2011)
[edit]On January 8, 2004, Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first female, first Jamaican American, and first Indian American district attorney of San Francisco after having defeated Terence Hallinan. She would serve as the first Indian American district attorney in U.S. history, and the first Jamaican American district attorney in California. Harris was re-elected in 2007 running unopposed, and was sworn in for her second term by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. Subsequently, Harris became Attorney General of California in 2011, U.S. Senator in 2017, Vice President of the United States in 2021, and lost the 2024 United States presidential election to Donald Trump.
George Gascón (2011–2019)
[edit]On January 9, 2011, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed SFPD Chief George Gascón as district attorney to succeed Kamala Harris, who had been elected California attorney general in November 2010. Gascón was subsequently elected in his own right in November 2011. On October 2, 2018, Gascón announced that he would not seek re-election, citing his mother's health.[2] On October 3, 2019, Gascón announced that he would resign as district attorney on October 18 in order to explore a run for Los Angeles district attorney.[3]
2019 district attorney election
[edit]After Gascón announced in 2018 that he would not seek re-election, San Francisco anticipated its first open race for district attorney since 1909,[4] with candidates Chesa Boudin, Leif Dautch, Suzy Loftus, and Nancy Tung entering the race.[5] After Gascón announced his resignation in October 2019 prior to the November 2019 election, Mayor London Breed appointed candidate Suzy Loftus as interim district attorney, whom Breed had endorsed in the November 2019 election.[5] Loftus served as interim district attorney from October 19, 2019, until January 8, 2020, when winning candidate Boudin took office.[5][6][7]
Chesa Boudin (2020–2022)
[edit]Chesa Boudin was sworn in as district attorney on January 8, 2020.[8] Heavily criticized for his perceived softness on crime[by whom?], Boudin was the subject of a recall election on June 7, 2022. In the recall election, 55.05% of voters supported removing him from office.[9][10] Mayor London Breed, who had backed a more moderate Democrat in the 2019 district attorney race, named Brooke Jenkins, a former corporate lawyer and prosecutor in the district attorney's office as Boudin's replacement.[11]
List of San Francisco district attorneys
[edit]| District attorney | Tenure |
|---|---|
| Henry H. Byrne | 1856 |
| William K. Osborn | 1857 |
| Harvey S. Brown | 1858–1861 |
| Nathan Porter | 1861–1868 |
| Herry H. Byrne | 1868–1872 |
| Daniel J. Murphy | 1872–1874 |
| Thomas P. Ryan | 1874–1876 |
| Daniel J. Murphy | 1876–1880 |
| David L. Smoot | 1880–1882 |
| Leonidas E. Pratt | 1882 |
| Jeremiah D. Sullivan | 1883–1885 |
| John N. Wilson | 1885–1887 |
| Edward B. Stonehill | 1887–1889 |
| James D. Page | 1889–1891 |
| William S. Barnes | 1891–1898 |
| Daniel J. Murphy | 1899–1900 |
| Lewis Francis Byington | 1900–1905 |
| William H. Langdon | 1906–1910 |
| Charles Fickert | 1910–1919 |
| Matthew Brady | 1920–1943 |
| Pat Brown | 1943–1951 |
| Thomas C. Lynch | 1951–1964 |
| John J. Ferdon | 1964–1976 |
| Joseph Freitas Jr. | 1976–1980 |
| Arlo Smith | 1980–1996 |
| Terence Hallinan | 1996–2004 |
| Kamala Harris | 2004–2011 |
| George Gascón | 2011–2019 |
| Suzy Loftus (interim) | 2019–2020 |
| Chesa Boudin | 2020–2022 |
| Brooke Jenkins | 2022–present |
References
[edit]- ^ a b "History of the San Francisco District Attorney's Office". City and County of San Francisco. Archived from the original on October 13, 2019. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
- ^ Sernoffsky, Evan (2 October 2019). "SF District Attorney George Gascón decides not to seek re-election". sfchronicle.com. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Lagos, Marisa (3 October 2019). "San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon Resigns". KQED. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ^ Redmond, Tim (3 October 2018). "Gascon will step down — but who will step up?". 48hills.org. San Francisco Progressive Media Center. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ a b c Wolffe, Kate; Green, Matthew (4 October 2019). "S.F. Mayor Breed Picks Suzy Loftus as Interim DA to Replace Gascón, One Month Before Election". kqed.org. KQED. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ "Suzy Loftus sworn in as interim district attorney". The San Francisco Examiner. October 19, 2019.
- ^ Sernoffsky, Evan (November 9, 2019). "Chesa Boudin, reformer public defender, wins election as San Francisco's new DA". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Sernoffsky, Evan (10 January 2020). "New SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin fires several prosecutors". sfchronicle.com. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ "June 7, 2022 Election Results - Summary". City and County of San Francisco - Department of Elections. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
- ^ Har, Janie. "San Francisco ousts liberal DA Chesa Boudin in heated recall". Associated Press News. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
- ^ White, Jeremy B. "London Breed replaces ousted DA Chesa Boudin with recall proponent Brooke Jenkins". POLITICO. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
