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\n\t\tSan Francisco Hall of Justice \u2013 Photo by David M. Greenwald\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tSan Francisco Hall of Justice \u2013 Photo by David M. Greenwald\t\t<\/p>\n
SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 During a preliminary hearing July 21 in Department 9 of the San Francisco Superior Court, Judge Dawn Payne denied the defense\u2019s motion to suppress evidence and held the accused to answer on six felony counts of possessing various controlled substances for sale. Throughout the hearing, Deputy Public Defender Amy Tao argued that the evidence did not establish a narcotics transaction, that San Francisco Police Department Officer Michael Coss did not observe any exchange of cash, and that his testimony lacked the specialized narcotics expertise necessary to support the prosecution\u2019s theory.<\/p>\n
During cross-examination of Officer Coss, DPD Tao asked what was considered a typical amount of the various narcotics found in the case for personal use. Officer Coss responded, \u201cIt depends on the user\u2019s tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what form codeine typically comes in, Officer Coss said users usually consume it in \u201cdrops.\u201d DPD Tao clarified that codeine usually comes in pill form, and Officer Coss quickly corrected himself.<\/p>\n
When identifying the various substances found on the accused during the search, Officer Coss testified that he used \u201cdrugs.com.\u201d<\/p>\n
After examining the witness, DPD Tao argued a motion to suppress the evidence and addressed each of the accused\u2019s charges.<\/p>\n
DPD Tao argued that Officer Coss did not have sufficient probable cause to justify the investigative detention, search and questioning of the accused. DPD Tao said that before the detention, the accused was driving, never stopped and did not appear hypervigilant. The officer also testified that he did not see the accused transfer any cash and only observed the accused \u201ctake something white out of a container.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was nothing else to support this investigative detention,\u201d DPD Tao said.<\/p>\n
DPD Tao further argued that after the detention, when the accused was \u201cactually arrested,\u201d there was still insufficient evidence to justify the arrest.<\/p>\n
In response, Deputy District Attorney Owen Nelson said the officer observed the accused \u201cpull out suspected narcotics\u201d and argued that fact alone justified both the investigative detention and the subsequent arrest.<\/p>\n
Judge Payne ultimately denied the defense\u2019s motion to suppress and asked both attorneys to address the accused\u2019s charges.<\/p>\n
DPD Tao again argued that there was \u201cno transaction or sale seen,\u201d that the accused was found with only about $100 in cash, and that the quantity of each narcotic recovered was approximately 2 grams.<\/p>\n
Regarding the alleged narcotics, DPD Tao argued that the evidence did not support a charge of possession for sale. She noted that the substances included approximately 2.2 grams of cocaine base, 0.3 grams of cocaine hydrochloride and 2.7 grams of suspected fentanyl, from which 0.116 grams had been removed for testing. Tao further emphasized that the screening test on the suspected fentanyl returned a negative result and that the substances had been weighed while still inside their packaging, contending that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to support the charges.<\/p>\n
DPD Tao pointed out that the accused was found with three pipes and a plastic straw, concluding that it was reasonable to believe the accused possessed the narcotics for personal use rather than with the intent to sell.<\/p>\n
DPD Tao also noted that Officer Coss could not testify to specifics about the narcotics found on the accused, referencing his description of the codeine as coming in \u201cpill form\u201d and as an \u201copioid type,\u201d as well as the lack of \u201cdescriptions of touch, feel, or smell\u201d of the narcotics. DPD Tao likened Officer Coss\u2019 identification of the narcotics to \u201ceyeballing based on the look.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, DPD Tao pointed out that the day of the hearing was the first time Officer Coss had been qualified as an expert on the specific narcotics involved in the case and argued that his testimony demonstrated a \u201clack of previous experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
DDA Nelson responded that the specific characteristics of the narcotics were less important than the officer\u2019s testimony that there had been an alleged transaction. As for the officer\u2019s qualifications, DDA Nelson argued that the officer\u2019s previous qualifications as an expert in court were not relevant because \u201cthat would mean no expert would be qualified,\u201d adding that all experts \u201chave to have a first time.\u201d<\/p>\n
DDA Nelson concluded that the totality of the circumstances surrounding the arrest, the variety of narcotics recovered and the location of the alleged transaction provided sufficient evidence to arrest the accused.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Judge Payne ruled that the accused will be held to answer on six felony counts of possession of controlled substances for sale.<\/p>\n
The accused\u2019s arraignment is set for Aug. 4, 2026, in Department 21 of the San Francisco Superior Court.<\/p>\n
Tags: San Francisco Superior Court, Judge Dawn Payne, Motion to Suppress, Drug Possession for Sale, Preliminary Hearing, Court Watch<\/p>\n
Categories: Breaking News<\/a> Court Watch<\/a> Northern California Court Watch<\/a> San Francisco Court Watch<\/a> Vanguard Court Watch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Francisco Hall of Justice \u2013 Photo by David M. Greenwald SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 During a preliminary hearing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-410678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}