SAN FRANCISCO — A jury in San Francisco County Superior Court found a Black woman not guilty on all charges after a two-week trial stemming from an incident at the University of California, San Francisco, Emergency Department that prosecutors charged as assault on a police officer and criminal threats, totaling 15 counts. The woman was released after spending more than eight months in the San Francisco County Jail.
After several days of pretrial litigation and jury selection, a jury heard opening statements from Deputy District Attorney Ashley Lee and Deputy Public Defender Deborah Awolope on May 14, 2026, before Lee began presenting the prosecution’s case.
According to testimony from UCSF medical staff and medical records entered into evidence, on Aug. 29, 2025, the woman was brought by ambulance to the UCSF Parnassus Emergency Department on an involuntary psychiatric hold, commonly known as a 5150 hold, by the San Francisco Police Department after barricading herself in a room and calling police officers demons…