San Francisco Public Defender

First SF Superior Court bail-reduction hearings under In re Kowalczyk (S277910, Cal. Sup. Ct. Apr. 30, 2026) — courts cannot detain on unaffordable bail in misdemeanor and non-violent/non-sexual felony cases. SF Judge Lianne Dumas reduced bail from $20,000 to $10,000 (PC 211 robbery) and $23,000 across six matters (homeless defendant) the week of May 11-13, requiring additional financial-ability-to-pay hearings. For SF PD specifically: every existing bail order is now litigable, layering bail-motion practice on top of the office's already-acute caseload crisis. Civil Rights Corps habeas project (partnered with 17 CA county PD offices) expected to amplify the bail-motion wave.

May 13 CalMatters statewide investigation explicitly references Raju's contempt litigation and caseload-unavailability framework as the leading example of CA's structural PD crisis. AB 2605 (Arambula/Schultz) — introduced the same week, would mandate the kind of workload reporting underlying SF unavailability declarations — passed Local Government and Public Safety committees unanimously and cleared Assembly Appropriations 11-0 May 14. Daily Journal May 5 'breaking point' coverage by Malcolm Maclachlan quotes Raju alongside Garcia (LA) and Silver (Santa Clara).

SF Public Defender Manohar 'Mano' Raju joined 17 other CA chief public defenders at the State Capitol on May 5, 2026 — his first visible statewide policy appearance since the April 8/10 Court of Appeal stays of the $26K contempt sanction. Raju advocated for the CPDA-backed $15M/yr × 3yr ($45M) post-bar attorney funding ask in advance of the May 21 May Revise. Assembly unanimously passed ACR 159. The statewide political coordination directly supports the SF office's underlying caseload-capacity argument that drove the unavailability litigation.

SF PD attorneys protested in court wearing all-black attire on April 27, 2026 to highlight unsustainable caseloads. Felony prelim attys: 45-50 cases / 60 hrs/week; misdemeanor trial attys: 100-150 cases / 50-70 hrs/week; felony trial attys: 50-60 cases / 60-80 hrs/week. Visibility action — not a strike — building on April 23 National Day of Action. Reinforces Raju's underlying argument in contempt litigation that the office cannot ethically accept new cases at these workload levels.

First District Court of Appeal issued a second stay on April 10, 2026 — the day payment was due — after Superior Court denied the PD's writ challenges. The April 8 stay remains in effect. Petition denied without prejudice as premature pending superior-court writ exhaustion. Sanctions are not collectible while the stay holds.

First DCA stayed enforcement of the $26,000 contempt sanction on April 8, 2026. Raju represented by BraunHagey & Borden LLP. Kory DeClark: 'No sanctions should issue before a reviewing court has an opportunity to evaluate the merits of the novel issues this case raises.'

SF Public Defender Mano Raju appeared on KTVU Fox Local May 1, 2026 in an in-depth segment discussing pay/resource disparities between PDs and DAs/law enforcement. First major broadcast media appearance since the April 8/10 First DCA stays of the $26K contempt sanction. Pairs with his May 5 Capitol appearance to extend the statewide media frame ahead of the May 14 May Revise. Reinforces the office's structural-resource argument for legislators and panel-of-the-public audiences.