After 5 Years in Jail, Jury Finds Him Not Guilty

So much for the right to a speedy trial. SF Public Defender Again Recounts SF Superior Court Failure – Man Jailed for 5 Years without Trial Finally Wins Freedom after Jury Acquittal

And self-defense might be legal in San Francisco, but I wouldn't bet on it.

DAs in Blue Cities really don't like self-defense.

“Mr. Ortiz, who is now 26, was jailed for nearly five years before he got to defend his innocence at trial. His defense team worked skillfully and compassionately to show that the prosecution was using fear rather than facts to try to prove their case,” Raju added.

Click thru for the somewhat underhanded tactics used by the prosecution, because they hate self-defense.

He should have had his trial more than a year ago, but a little thing like constitutional rights can't stand in the way of social control due to a pandemic. Social distancing, masks and whatever else they had dreamed up couldn't work in the courthouse. But apparently worked fine in the jail. Or something.

“Our client, Thomas Ortiz, was acquitted because it was an act of self-defense. Mr. Ortiz had never been arrested before. He fired one shot in self-defense after another individual pulled out a weapon and after someone else threw a bottle at Mr. Ortiz’s face,” said Deputy Public Defender Yali Corea-Levy.

But of course he fired that shot in self-defense in a the Bluest of Blue Cities, San Francisco. They can't abide individual responsibility. You must rely on the state, even for those things the state cannot provide. (Like your safety when bad things start happening.)

Self-defense is a human-right, but if the prosecutors in San Francisco have their way, it won't be your legal right.