It’s a given that nearly everyone in San Francisco politics is on the left. Still, there’s a difference between those on the left who still want and expect a city that is sanely run and which makes a real effort to maintain public safety and the woke utopia that leftists are trying to usher in through their reforms to the justice system, reforms that often seem synonymous with giving violent criminals a pass.
Case in point, back in June 2021 a 94-year-old woman named Anh “Peng” Taylor was stabbed in broad daylight by Daniel Cauich, a man with a long criminal history, including a previous arrest for murder. Cauich was wearing an ankle monitor at the time of the attack, all of which was caught on video.
Miraculously, Anh Taylor survived. As for Daniel Cauich, he had previously been arrested for murder but was released because he wasn’t given a proper Miranda warning.
55-year-old Larry Peevey was killed at the 16th and Mission BART plaza on June 5, 2016. Daniel and his brother Header Cauich, along with another man, Jose Poot, were arrested and all three charged in Peevey’s murder. As the Examiner reported at the time, Peevey was killed with two knives and a hatchet — and police had grainy surveillance video of the crime.
The brothers don’t speak English well and were mirandized with the help of an interpreter. Afterwards they admitted to being present in the video but their attorney later argued that they hadn’t understood they had a right to remain silent.
According to an excerpt from the court transcript from that hearing, defense attorney Paul Dennison successfully argued that charges against the brothers should be dismissed both due to the inadmissibility of their initial statements to police, and the lack of other evidence against them.
The trial was further muddled by the a law passed in 2018 which said an accomplice could not be convicted of first-degree murder unless there was evidence of “malice aforethought” from the accomplice.
Dennison argued that without the statement given by Daniel Cauich as to his presence at the BART plaza, given without proper Mirandizing, the court had no other proof that he was at the scene of the crime. And even if there were such evidence, there was no proof of express malice toward the victim from either Cauich or his brother.
The result was that Daniel Cauich and his brother were released and the charges against them were dismissed. By 2021, progressive DA Chesa Boudin claimed his office had argued Cauich should be held in jail because he was already on felony probation at the time of another burglary arrest. Instead, he was released for substance abuse treatment with just an ankle monitor. And that’s when he randomly attempted to murder Anh “Peng” Taylor.
Finally, jump forward to March 15 of this year. After nearly three years in jail awaiting trial, Cauich was sentenced for the attempted murder. The result was a suspended sentence and another diversion program. The judge decided Cauich deserved another chance to stay out of prison.
The judge, Kay Tsenin, read the sentence and said that Cauich can avoid jail time but is required to enter probation and a strict behavioral and mental health treatment program, which means he will be under intensive supervision in a facility with limited freedom until he successfully finishes the program.
The court combined the attack and another burglary case for this sentence.
A program called the Intensive Supervision Court—intended for high-risk probationers as an alternative to state prison—will decide later what specific programs Cauich will undergo. If he violates any probation rules, he will be sent to prison.
“I am giving you one last chance to stay out of state prison,” Tsenin said to Cauich during the hearing.
That infuriated a lot of people, including DA Brooke Jenkins who posted this on X.
Every day our prosecutors go into court + fight for justice & public safety. Yet, almost daily they are met w/ staunch resistance within the courthouse. Not only was this victim denied justice, but all San Franciscans were left less safe today due to this reckless decision. https://t.co/ygKfeF7RsP pic.twitter.com/TVyGOACE1W
— Brooke Jenkins 謝安宜 (@BrookeJenkinsSF) March 16, 2024
A group of protesters, including Jenkins, showed up at the courthouse to denounce the outcome. As you’ll hear in this clip, there were also counter-protesters who showed up to support the light sentence for Cauich.
The counter-protesters were mostly defense attorneys who don’t like Brooke Jenkins.
Cauich’s defense attorney, Lisa DewBerry, said that her client was the victim of a hit-and-run himself that contributed to a severe mental health crisis that came to a head when he stabbed Taylor.
The defense attorney said Judge Tsenin sentenced him appropriately and set terms for Cauich to receive mental health care. She said if he failed to live up to the strict demands tied to his probation, a 10-year prison sentence would be re-instated.
Outside the courthouse, counter protesters, including defense attorneys, backed Judge Tsenin’s decision to offer probation in this case.
“She made the best judgment. And Brooke Jenkins shouldn’t be attacking judges for doing the best job that they can with the evidence presented and distorting the facts,” said defense attorney Marc Zilversmit.
A final decision hasn’t been made, in part because the judge can’t move forward with this slap on the wrist sentence without the approval of the DA’s office. And as of now as if Jenkins is not going to give her approval.
It’s not clear to me how long Cauich would remain in a mental health residential treatment program if the deal were to go forward. This document on the DA’s website such treatment is limited to two years. Presumably after that Cauich would still be on probation but would otherwise be free to walk the streets. But again, the details are a bit vague.
It feels to me like this protest and counter-protest is what it looks like when a city overwhelmed with progressive criminal justice reformers tries to stand up for some basic level of sanity and safety. Putting away a person who dodged a murder charge and who then attempted to murder of an elderly stranger for no reason should not be a tough call. But in San Francisco you have to fight an uphill battle even to keep someone like Daniel Cauich from getting another and then another last chance.
As for Anh Taylor, she is now 97-years-old and is doing well according to her family.
