Description: San Francisco, California criminal defense lawyer represented defendant charged with felony assault.

Islam Natsheh was charged with felony assault for “briefly jump in to defend a companion who was engaged in an altercation with another man who sustained several cuts, but that there was no evidence suggesting that Mr. Natsheh had possessed or used a knife in the fray.”

A video that would have absolved Defendant was not turned over by the Police Department for months while Defendant was held in jail.

“Everyone in this country is entitled to a speedy trial and that simply is not happening in San Francisco. While the courts have just recently been sending more cases to trial, we’re still only utilizing about a third of the available courtroom space in San Francisco while hundreds of legally-innocent people languish in jail under 23-hour lockdown well beyond their trial deadlines,” said San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju.

The PD added, “Mr. Breecker and his team worked diligently to represent Mr. Natsheh, but were nearly stymied by a severe negligence of police investigators who sat on a video for nine months. Prolonged incarceration inflicts untold psychological harm to those who are jailed, and comes at a great cost to our city.”

Outcome: The jury found Natsheh not guilty of felony assault with a deadly weapon, and hung 7-5 not guilty on another charge that has now been dismissed.

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