Someone is to blame. Jonathan Bernstein isn’t sure who, but one thing is certain.
“Someone really messed up here,” charged the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
On Jan. 29, S.F. Superior Court Judge Diane Wick dropped misdemeanor assault charges against Dario Fernandez, who had been accused in August 2007 of beating up Mike Pauker at a San Francisco nightclub while showering him with anti-Semitic insults. According to the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, the San Francisco State University Police Department failed to produce “key evidence,” including statements made by the victim.
Calls to the SFSU Police Department were referred to university spokeswoman Ellen Griffin. She refused to accept the district attorney’s assignment of blame, stating only, “We’ve heard conflicting reasons” as to why the charges were dropped. She would not share what those reasons were.
Griffin said SFSU President Robert Corrigan would be writing a letter to District Attorney Kamala Harris asking her to refile charges against Fernandez and requesting a written explanation as to why they were dropped.
Fernandez’s alleged assault of Pauker took place when both were SFSU students. It came on the same day SFSU pro-Palestinian activists nearly came to blows with Pauker, who was wearing an Israel Defense Forces T-shirt on campus.
Bernstein wonders if the alleged attack on Pauker was related to the on-campus spat.
Messages left for Pauker were not returned. J. was unable to contact Fernandez.
Bernstein is “pulling in some legal minds to see if other options can be pursued,” but, for now, he’s frustrated.
“It would be one thing if the court had a chance to review the facts, but it never got that far … Justice was denied.”