Both city vot­ers and the Bar Association of San Francisco have voiced sup­port for San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris’ deci­sion to not seek the death penal­ty in the case against David Hill, who is accused of killing city police offi­cer Isaac Espinoza. A recent poll found that 70% of respon­dents backed Harris’ deci­sion, while only 22% opposed the choice and 8% remained unde­cid­ed. The poll also found that 65% of those sur­veyed gave Harris’ over­all per­for­mance as District Attorney favor­able marks. Harris ran for office as an oppo­nent of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The San Francisco Bar Association also praised Harris’ deci­sion to seek a sen­tence of life with­out parole for Hill, and mem­bers voiced their sup­port for keep­ing the tri­al with­in Harris’ domain. The Association cau­tioned that all dis­trict attor­neys could see their pow­er of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al dis­cre­tion erod­ed if California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer or fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors decide to take over the case in order to pur­sue a cap­i­tal con­vic­tion. (San Francisco Chronicle, May 19, 2004) See Public Opinion. See also, Life Without Parole.

Citation Guide