San Francisco’s top prosecutor is facing fierce criticism from victim advocate groups, gubernatorial candidate Caitlin Jenner and others for his handling of domestic abuse cases — including a suspect who went on to allegedly kill a 7-month-old boy.
District Attorney Chesa Boudin has reportedly dismissed the cases against 113 out of 131 people busted for felony domestic violence in the last three months of 2020, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Jenner, who announced her run for California governor last week, brought up the April 20 death of little Synciere Williams as she attacked Gov. Gavin Newsom for being soft on crime.
“This is horrible and also avoidable,” Jenner tweeted, along with a link to a story about Williams’ death. “This is horrible and also avoidable. Gavin’s District Attorneys across California are releasing dangerous criminals back on to our streets. Enough is enough.”
The lack of action on domestic violence has drawn criticism from victims rights groups as Boudin himself is lobbying New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the release of his own father — a convicted domestic terrorist.
“Domestic violence is a crime against the state of California, and the district attorney’s job is to work with what the police department has gathered at the crime scene and develop the evidence to present a case,” Kathy Black, executive director of La Casa de las Madres in San Francisco, told the Chronicle. “That’s his job – it’s not the victim’s job.”
The criticism of Boudin’s actions on domestic violence come as Joseph Williams, 26, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder Williams’ death, the Chronicle reported.
Synciere was declared dead by hospital staff who found signs of trauma to his body, leading to a police probe, the newspaper reported.
Cops told the newspaper in a statement that Williams was the child’s “adult male caregiver,” but the pair are reportedly not related, despite having the same last name.
Investigators later determined there was probable cause to take Williams into custody for homicide, but cops did not provide additional details of the alleged slaying, according to the report.
Williams, who remained in custody without bond Monday, had been arrested twice earlier this year on domestic violence allegations, but was not charged in either incident.
Both cases involved a woman Williams had been in a relationship with, but she refused to cooperate with prosecutors and told cops she had initially attacked him, the newspaper reported.
“Given the lack of cooperation with prosecution, we were unable to move forward with either of those cases,” Rachel Marshall, a spokeswoman for San Francisco District Chesa Boudin, told the Chronicle in a statement.
Williams was arrested on Jan. 7 for allegedly shoving a woman he was dating on a corner in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood as a 10-month-old girl was being pushed in a stroller, police said.
The woman said Williams grabbed her by the throat, leaving her with bruising on her neck. She refused medical attention, police said.
Williams was arrested again on March 26 when cops responded to an apartment and found the same woman who told detectives he punched her and pushed her into a cabinet after telling him he had to leave, police said.
Williams was arrested on charges including suspicion of felony domestic violence and aggravated assault in both cases. He was also charged with aggravated assault in the first incident, but wasn’t prosecuted in either alleged attack, the Chronicle reported.
Marshall said the chain of events “speaks to the need for better services and responses to domestic violence reports,” according to the report.
Boudin, meanwhile, announced Monday that his office had filed charges of murder and assault on a child causing death against Williams in Synciere’s death. The boy died from blunt force trauma, the district attorney said.
Boudin said the circumstance of Williams’ previous cases supported decisions not to charge him, but all policies related to prosecuting domestic violence crimes will now be reviewed going forward, Boudin said.
Prosecutors charge cases even when a witness does not cooperate, so “long as the case can be proven otherwise,” according to Boudin’s statement.
The prosecutor who reviewed Williams’ prior arrests is a veteran who has worked for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office for decades, Boudin said.
“We are holding Baby S. and his family in our thoughts, and mourn his loss,” the prosecutor’s statement read.
Boudin, 40, made headlines news earlier this year for lobbying New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to commute the prison sentence of his father, David Gilbert, for the infamous Brink’s armored car robbery in Nyack in 1981 that left two cops and a guard dead.
Gilbert and Boudin’s mother, Kathy Boudin, were members of the domestic terror group Weather Underground and helped pull off the heist in Rockland County after dropping off a 14-month-old Chesa at a babysitter’s house.
Boudin is among those lobbying for the release of his 76-year-old father, although he’s acknowledged that the “most likely scenario” is that Gilbert will die in prison. He’s eligible for parole in 2056.
Kathy Boudin, who pleaded guilty, was released on parole in 2003. A co-defendant in the case, Judith Clark, was paroled in 2019, some three years after Cuomo commuted her sentence.
With Post wires