Antoine Watson, convicted of killing 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee, walked free from a San Francisco courtroom this week after Judge Linda Colfax sentenced him to time already served — a mathematically predictable outcome driven by California's 2-for-1 pretrial credit rule and a four-year sentencing cap on involuntary manslaughter. The case has reignited debate over how San Francisco's courts handle violent crime, from prosecution decisions to judicial philosophy, against a backdrop of other recent incidents — a Chinatown stabbing two days before Lunar New Year and a civil lawsuit over a parole system that allegedly told agents to stop looking for violations before two women were killed.
The murderer walks free. The public defender wants charges dismissed. This is what "reform" looks like.