Fifty-nine year old Jeff Adachi, The elected Public Defender of San Francisco has died. Mr. Adachi leaves a record of public service and advocacy for reform in the Criminal Justice system that is second to none.
There is a short article in SF Gate, www.sfchronicle.com/…
State Sen. Scott Wiener remembered Adachi as a man of his word, one who “fought like a dog for what he believed in for his clients.”
“I always knew that everything he said or did came from the heart,” Wiener said. “He was someone who, it didn’t matter to him what people thought about him or if people were mad at him. He was there to fight for the most marginalized people in society.”
i met Mr Adachi a few times and had a brief conversation with him as I waited to go in to a seminar to listen and he prepared to speak. I didn’t know him more than that, but I admired him greatly. He embodied the very best of the Public Defender ethos. We lost a warrior in the fight to protect the most vulnerable among us.
I encourage people to read read the article.