The new no-nonsense San Francisco district attorney is cleaning house without batting an eyelash.
On Friday, Brooke Jenkins, laid 15 staff inherited from her predecessor Chesa Boudin.
The firings took place nearly two weeks after she was appointed district attorney by Mayor London Breed following the recall of her much-maligned predecessor Chesa Boudin.
“Today, I made difficult, but important changes to my management team and staff that will help advance my vision to restore a sense of safety in San Francisco by holding serious and repeat offenders accountable and implementing smart criminal justice reforms,” Jenkins said in a statement.
Jenkins only kept 10 staff out of 25 employees, just a few days after holding a 20-minute introductory meeting. Some attendees described the meeting as uncomfortable and icy.
The staff fired included Arcelia Hurtado, who had worked as managing attorney and served as the DA Office’s representative on the city’s Innocence Commission, which investigates potential wrongful convictions.
Boudin established the commission in 2020 and Jenkins said Thursday she intends to continue it.
“The decision by Brooke Jenkins to fire Arcelia Hurtado is deeply concerning, especially given the promise she made … to allow the Innocence Commission to continue to function,” University of San Francisco law professor Lara Bazelon, the chair of the commission said.
The professor also mentioned that Arcelia was the head of the DA’s post-conviction review unit, which is currently reviewing a petition by the mayor’s brother Napoleon Brown to be granted leniency and released from prison following a conviction for carjacking and manslaughter.
Jenkins will serve in her role until November, when she’ll run in a special election to decide who will complete Boudin’s term through 2023.
Meanwhile, Boudin says running for the job hasn’t been used out. Boudin claims that he became the scapegoat for the city’s surge in crime.
“A lot of my supporters and endorsements and donors and Democratic clubs that were behind me are urging me to run now, or in 2023,” Boudin said. “I’m committed, as I always have been my entire life, to doing the work to support our communities, to fight for a fairer system of justice.”
Hopefully the citizens of San Francisco are not stupid enough to reelect the iddiot Boudin again !