Updated on Oct. 10
A 36-year-old man who pleaded guilty to committing an antisemitic assault in June in San Francisco’s Marina District was sentenced to 83 days in jail on Wednesday.
Because of credit for time already served, Juan Diaz-Rivas of Santa Rosa was also released.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced charges on June 17, describing the incident as an “antisemitic group beating.” The assault, which occurred during the early hours of Saturday, June 14, on the 3100 block of Fillmore Street, shook the local Jewish community.
Diaz-Rivas initially pleaded not guilty, but he accepted a plea bargain in September, his attorney, Adam Gasner, told J. As part of the agreement, Diaz-Rivas pleaded guilty to one count of felony assault and admitted to a hate crime.
He will remain on probation for two years and is required to complete 80 hours of community service, take anger management classes and file a letter of apology to the two victims. If his probation is completed without violations, the hate crime will be expunged from his record.
Diaz-Rivas did not speak at sentencing in San Francisco Superior Court.
Alana Gans, a 28-year-old Jewish law school student who was knocked down during the June assault, spoke to J. after the sentencing. Her friend, a 27-year-old man referred to in court only as “Jeremy S,” bore the brunt of the assault.
Gans sees this case as an important one for the Bay Area Jewish community.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s six months or 100 years,” Gans said, speaking of possible jail sentences for Diaz-Rivas. “I want the whole Jewish community to know that the San Francisco DA’s office supports the Jewish community, and they’re not going to tolerate Jewish hate.”
At the sentencing hearing, Gans read aloud a detailed and chilling impact statement, addressing Diaz-Rivas directly. She recounted vivid memories of being knocked to the ground by an intoxicated Diaz-Rivas, as he screamed antisemitic slurs, repeating “f*** the Jews” and beating her friend to the point of him losing consciousness.
Several others participated in the beating, according to Gans. A second suspect, Alejandro Flores-Lamas, 22, faces the same charges as Diaz-Rivas. He has pleaded not guilty and has a pre-hearing conference set for next Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court.
In her impact statement, Gans pushed back on the defense’s argument that the assault was a “drunken mistake” by a man with no previous record of antisemitic behavior.
“After the police arrived and minutes had passed, you came back,” Gans read in court. “You came back and screamed ‘f*** the Jews’ again, multiple times. ‘F ***the Jews, Free Palestine.’ That does not seem like a drunken mistake to me. To me, that was a proud choice.”
“That night felt like a pogrom,” Gans continued in court, noting that since that day, she has been overwhelmed with fear about being openly Jewish and has removed the mezuzah from her front doorpost.
Judge Bruce Chan delivered the sentence.
Following Gans’ remarks, Chan commended Gans for her “powerful” words and acknowledged that the case resonated with him on a personal level as a Chinese immigrant who was cared for as a child by a Hungarian Holocaust survivor.
“One of the easiest things in the world is to say you’re sorry,” Chan said. “What counts is whether you change your conduct.”
Gasner, Diaz-Rivas’ attorney, told J. after the sentencing that he felt the outcome provided a chance for Diaz-Rivas to do just that.
“As we all know, behaviors don’t occur in a vacuum,” Gasner said. “There’s clearly some feeling that he wasn’t able to control what came out that night. It’s important that Mr. Diaz-Rivas tries to learn from his mistakes and why those behaviors came out that vitriolic and violent evening, so it never happens again.”
Galya Blachman, a Jewish resident of San Francisco, sat in the courtroom Wednesday along with a handful of others who showed up to support Gans.
“Even though there are many anti-Jewish voices in San Francisco,” Blachman said in an email to J. , “it is heartening to see the judicial system upholding important rights and protections for San Francisco residents.”