San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is dismissing charges against former police officer Kenneth Cha, who fatally shot Sean Moore at his home in 2017. Her predecessor, Chesa Boudin, filed voluntary manslaughter charges against Cha in 2021. Jenkins said she could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Cha did not act in self-defense, KQED reports. Jenkins noted that former District Attorney George Gascón did not prosecute Cha. Boudin took on the police shooting case for “political reasons,” Jenkins said. She has dropped all three police shooting cases that Boudin filed. “Mr. Moore’s subsequent death, tragic as it is, did not change the analysis,” Jenkins said. “At this time we draw the same conclusion that was explained in the declination under Gascón, and can not ethically prosecute this case in good faith.” Police knocked on the door of Moore, 46, responding to a neighbor’s noise complaint. He yelled at the officers to leave. When he finally opened the gate officers told him to get to the ground. Moore refused. Cha’s partner struck Moore with a baton just before Cha shot Moore twice.
Boudin took office in 2020. Jenkins replaced Boudin after a recall election in 2022. No district attorney has successfully brought charges against a San Francisco police officer for an officer-involved shooting. “While I will hold law enforcement or anyone accountable who violates the law, I have a sworn duty to follow the facts and evidence—period,” Jenkins said. In May, Jenkins dropped charges against a police officer who in 2019 shot Jamaica Hampton. Hampton survived his injuries but had his leg amputated. Jenkins also dropped a case involving former police officer Christopher Samayoa, who shot and killed Keita O’Neil, who was fleeing on foot after a suspected carjacking. After public outcry, California Attorney General Rob Bonta reviewed Jenkins’ decision in O’Neil’s case, but sided with Jenkins. She said Bonta observed "that prosecutors ‘should only file charges only if they believe there is sufficient admissible evidence to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.’ We agree.”