Armed felon fails in release bid but wins approval to attend birth of his child
A felon who prosecutors say put a gun to the head of three victims during a robbery, while on probation after he fled an SFPD traffic stop and was found with a firearm, failed in his bid to secure release today – but won a promise from a judge that he would free him temporarily so he could witness the birth of his child.
Cyril Hanna appeared at San Francisco federal courthouse to appeal a decision by a magistrate judge to keep him in detention pending the resolution of his case.
“There is a long history of violent conduct,” observed U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer this morning.
“In my view, there’s no doubt that he presents a danger to the community,” he added.
Judge Breyer declined Hanna’s request to move from jail to a “secure” halfway house. Instead, he told attorneys to work out a plan for temporary release around the time of the impeding birth to allow him to attend.
Hanna, 37, had been ordered detained by U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson after being arrested for armed robbery in August 2024.
Prosecutors say that Hanna held a gun to the heads of three victims, including two women, and threatened to shoot them during the heist in Concord.
At the time of that incident Hanna was on supervised release following an earlier federal conviction, which came after he was found with a loaded gun after fleeing from an attempted SFPD traffic stop in San Francisco’s Bayview district.
That escapade ended with his car embedded in the front gate of a house where it lodged after earlier hitting several cars parked nearby.
Only months earlier Hanna had been released from state prison after serving a nine year sentence for armed robbery. In the intervening period he was also arrested again with a gun.
The court was told that Hanna has a juvenile adjudication for voluntary manslaughter, two arrests for attempted murder and other arrests for assault with a firearm, robbery and burglary.
Prosecutors calculate that Hanna has been arrested every year he has been out of custody since 2002.
This morning in courtroom six of San Francisco federal courthouse, Hanna’s attorney Angela Huang said that, given Hanna’s partner was about to give birth, he could be trusted to live in a secure halfway house and also be subject to GPS monitoring.
“There is a long history of violent conduct,” said Judge Breyer.
“In my view, there’s no doubt that he presents a danger to the community.”
“Now these are unusual circumstances. I don’t want to be insensitive to child birth – it’s a very special time and it’s a very important time. So if there is an arrangement that can accommodate essentially those two things, that’s what I’ll do.”
“But I’m not going to give a blanket release to an individual who has what I would say is a fairly substantial record of danger to the community.”
The judge told defense attorneys and prosecutors to work out a suitable arrangement.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Leif Dautch told the court that the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office seemed likely to pursue state charges against Hanna for the Concord robbery. Even if they did not, he said, his office would continue federal proceedings with respect to Hanna violating the terms of his supervised release by committing the crimes.
The case continues.
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