Kamala Harris Prosecutorial Guidelines
| Submitted | July 10, 2019 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Julia Rock
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All prosecutorial guidelines or instructions or directives issued by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2010. This includes, but is not limited to emails, memos, or internal documents describing the guidelines for how prosecutors in the District Attorney's office should decide what cases to prosecute and what levels of charges to bring.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Julia Rock
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following California Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 10, 2019. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: San Francisco District Attorney's office
Ms. Rock,
Enclosed, please find our office's response to your request for records received on 7/10/2019.
Best,
--
Nikesh Patel
Assistant District Attorney
Office of District Attorney George Gascón
850 Bryant Street, Third Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103
T: 415-734-3205
From: Julia Rock
Hello Nikesh:
I am writing to appeal your response to this request under the California Public Records Act and request that you repeat the search for the requested records.
It has been well-documented that Senator Kamala Harris issued many guidelines and directives for prosecution while serving as the San Francisco District Attorney–– as is common practice for District Attorneys across the state. Most well-known are Harris's anti-truancy program and prosecution of drug offensives.
If I can clarify my request in any way, please let me know. I am best reached at this email.
- Julia Rock
From: San Francisco District Attorney's office
Hi Julia,
Thanks for your email.
Our initial review for the requested documents was thorough. It's my guess that our search efforts were unsuccessful given the age of the documents and change in administration.
In an abundance of caution though, we're happy to search again. If any questions come up during our search, I'll reach out.
Take care and talk soon,
Nikesh
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following California Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 10, 2019. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: San Francisco District Attorney's office
Hi Julia,
Thanks again for your patience. I conducted our search again, and unfortunately, our office does not have records directly responsive to your request.
Prosecutorial charging and sentencing guidelines for different offenses are codified in various state statutes and code sections. These codes and statutes are the legal guidelines that prosecutors have to follow; they also change from year to year. Of the guidelines that were created, we have not been able to locate these records. Given their age, that their retention periods have well passed, and the change in administration, our search efforts have not been successful.
During our search, however, we did come across the records that we’ve enclosed in this email. They relate to the Back on Track Program that existed during your requested time frame. We hope they are helpful.
Best,
Nikesh
From: Julia Rock
Hello Nikesh:
Thank you for sending the emails about Back on Track. Since you have emails from the period from which Harris was DA, I'm going to modify my original request to make it for emails.
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
All emails sent by District Attorney Kamala Harris between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2010 that include the keywords or key strings "truancy" OR "discretion" OR "marijuana."
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
From: San Francisco District Attorney's office
Hi Julia,
Enclosed, please find our office's response to your request for records received on 8/13/2019.
The emails we had regarding the BOT program were an isolated set. We discovered them as we were searching for records responsive to one of your past requests.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best,
