Published by CBS News
The San Francisco district attorney’s decision to not charge a Walgreens security guard in the fatal shooting of Banko Brown was not an abuse of discretion, California’s top prosecutor said.
“In making crime-charging decisions, prosecutors must believe that the admissible evidence is of such convincing force that it would warrant a conviction of the crime charged by an objective fact finder beyond a reasonable doubt after hearing all of the evidence and considering the most reasonably foreseeable defenses such as self-defense. In this case, the San Francisco County District Attorneys’ Office did not believe a prosecution would result in a conviction,” Bonta’s office said.
Brown was a 24-year-old Black trans man. A funeral service for him was held in May 2023. Family and friends said he struggled with poverty and worked as a community organizer for the Young Women’s Freedom Center, a nonprofit support young women and trans youth.