San Francisco resentencing watch: Parole board said no, but a judge could free drive-by killer anyway
Two men sentenced to life for murder and attempted murder are quietly asking a San Francisco judge to ‘resentence’ them to lower terms that would allow them to immediately leave state prison.
These are but the latest in a slew of cases in which the city’s worst predators have taken advantage of new laws allowing those guilty of horrific crimes to make bids to leave prison early. Trusting city judges have proven only too willing time and again to rubber-stamp those releases.
David Chatman, 53, was convicted in 1992 of second-degree murder for killing 15-year-old Hagbom Saileele in a 1991 drive-by shooting in San Francisco’s Hunters Point.
Western Addition gang member Chatman and his accomplices wanted revenge on a rival gang they believed had stolen a car.
He has served 33 years of a 22-years-to-life sentence. He was 18 years old at the time of the killing.
Earlier this year concerned parole commissioners denied him parole for five years after hearing he continued to use fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana in prison.
But this month, Chatman’s attorney, Mark Iverson, filed a motion asking Judge Brendan Conroy to throw out his murder conviction and replace it with a verdict of voluntary manslaughter – a move that, practically, would likely result in his immediate release.
“Since Mr Chatman’s commitment to CDCR, he has matured dramatically, he has learned how to maintain his sobriety, he has gained insights into how he could have killed someone, he has learned how to be [an] empathic and caring person through his meaningful participation in numerous rehabilitative programs,” wrote Iverson.
Chatman’s childhood trauma and neglect also contributed to his drug use, Iverson said.
He told the court that, as a three-year-old child, his client was shot during a domestic violence incident. A year later his father committed a homicide with a gun; a year after that his mother killed herself with a gun while he was in the next room, leaving him to find her body.
The rest of his childhood was marked by abuse, he started using drugs at age 13 and, at age 15, he was shot again and hospitalized for six months.
Conroy earlier accepted Chatman’s ‘invitation’ to reconsider his sentence and ordered the appointment of a social worker to develop a ‘reentry plan’ for his release.
Chatman has been moved from state prison back to county jail in San Francisco ahead of a hearing before Conroy on November 6 at the city’s Hall of Justice.
Lester Hogan, 55, opened fire on two teenagers he thought had vandalized his car at the Alice Griffith projects in 2001. A 17-year-old was shot in the abdomen while a 16-year-old escaped injury.
A San Francisco jury found him guilty in 2004 of two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a firearm and two firearms possession charges. He was sentenced to seven years to life on count one, doubled to 14 years due to a previous strike, plus a consecutive term of 25 years for firing a gun and causing great bodily injury, plus another consecutive five years for various enhancements.
His sentences on the other counts were ordered to run concurrently.
Hogan had a previous conviction for armed robbery.
This month Hogan asked Judge Conroy to resentence him and allow him to leave prison immediately. His two convictions for attempted murder would be maintained, but additional findings that lengthened his sentence would be ditched.
“Mr Hogan experienced a tragic childhood of neglect, abuse and victimization,” wrote attorney George Lazarus.
“As can be seen from Mr Hogan’s prison records and supportive documentation, he is no longer the same person he was when he committed the offenses resulting in his imprisonment. He is older and wiser, and he now truly possesses the ability and desire to do well back in the community. He is also sincerely remorseful for the pain he has caused others.”
According to state corrections records Hogan will be eligible for parole in 2032.
A decision on his resentencing will likely be taken imminently.
These requests were made under a state law that allows judges to revisit sentences already handed down and replace them with shorter ones. The law was loosened in 2023 to let judges act on their own, without a prosecutor’s request or approval, the latest in a string of soft-on-crime measures pushed by San Francisco Democrat Phil Ting, the ACLU, public defenders and a lobby of progressive prosecutors that have opened the door for violent felons, including would-be killers, to walk free.
In May Edward Kennedy, given life without parole for torturing a child to death, walked out of prison on compassionate release after Judge Conroy resentenced him to life with parole.
There is no meaningful opposition left in California to this continued exercise in leniency.
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