PC § 187: How SFPD's Homicide Unit Investigates, What the SF DA's Homicide Division Charges, and Why the First 48 Hours Define Every Defense
Murder is the most serious charge in California criminal law. It is also the charge where the decisions made in the first 48 hours after arrest are most consequential. SFPD's Homicide Unit begins building the case the moment a body is discovered. By the time an arrest is made, the investigation has typically been running for days or weeks. Evidence has been collected, witnesses have been interviewed, and the SF DA's Homicide Division has already formed a theory of prosecution. Every statement made without counsel, every consent to search granted, and every right waived during this critical period can alter the trajectory of the entire defense.
San Francisco's homicide landscape reflects the City's complex geography and demographics. The Bayview-Hunters Point, Tenderloin, Mission, and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods generate the majority of the City's gang-related and street violence homicides. But San Francisco also sees domestic violence homicides, drug-related killings, and increasingly fentanyl-related deaths that prosecutors pursue as homicides under the drug-induced death theory. Each category of SF homicide prosecution carries its own evidentiary patterns and defense opportunities.
The Bulldog Law handles murder defense throughout San Francisco. Our criminal defense blog covers homicide defense strategy, SB 1437 petitions, and self-defense law in detail. This article explains how PC § 187 works in San Francisco, how SFPD's Homicide Unit builds these cases, and what defense looks like at 850 Bryant Street.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS FOR YOURSELF OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW: Call The Bulldog Law immediately at (888) 928-1609. In murder cases, every hour matters.
PC § 187: Degrees of Murder and What Each Carries
First Degree Murder 25 Years to Life
First degree murder requires willfulness, deliberation, and premeditation a considered killing, even if the deliberation lasted only moments. It also covers killings by poison, lying in wait, or torture, and killings during specified felonies under the felony murder rule. The sentence is 25 years to life. Premeditation is the distinction between first and second degree murder and disproving it is often the central trial battleground in San Francisco homicide cases.
Second Degree Murder 15 Years to Life
Second degree murder covers intentional killings without premeditation, or killings resulting from conscious disregard for human life implied malice. The base sentence is 15 years to life. Enhancements prior murder convictions, use of a firearm, killing of certain victims can increase the minimum term significantly. In San Francisco, many street violence homicides are charged as second degree when direct evidence of premeditation is absent.
Special Circumstances Life Without Parole
When the SF DA alleges special circumstances under PC § 190.2 including multiple murders, murder for financial gain, murder of a peace officer, or murder during rape, robbery, or kidnapping the penalty is life without the possibility of parole (LWOP). SFPD homicides that arise in the context of a robbery or another felony are frequently evaluated by the SF DA for special circumstances charging.
Felony Murder After SB 1437
California's SB 1437 (2019) dramatically narrowed the felony murder rule. Under current law, a person can only be convicted of felony murder if they were the actual killer, acted with intent to kill while aiding the actual killer, or were a major participant in the underlying felony who acted with reckless indifference to human life. Aiders and abettors who did not kill and were not major participants can no longer be convicted of murder solely because a death occurred during a felony they participated in. SB 1437 also applies retroactively defendants convicted under the old felony murder rule can petition for resentencing under PC § 1172.6.
Voluntary Manslaughter The Critical Reduction
Voluntary manslaughter a killing in the heat of passion upon sudden provocation carries 3, 6, or 11 years. The difference between a murder conviction (25 years to life) and a voluntary manslaughter conviction (3 to 11 years) can mean the difference between a life destroyed and a life with a future. Reducing a murder charge to manslaughter is one of the most significant defense victories achievable in any SF Superior Court homicide case.
SB 1437 RETROACTIVE RELIEF: If someone was convicted of felony murder before SB 1437's effective date under the old, broader rule as an aider or abettor who did not kill and did not act with intent to kill a PC § 1172.6 resentencing petition may be available to vacate the conviction. The Bulldog Law evaluates SB 1437 petition eligibility and handles resentencing proceedings in San Francisco Superior Court.
How SFPD's Homicide Unit Builds Murder Cases in San Francisco
The Homicide Unit and the 48-Hour Window
SFPD's Homicide Unit responds to every homicide in San Francisco with a team of specialized detectives. Their investigation begins within hours of the discovery of a body collecting physical evidence at the scene, canvassing witnesses in the surrounding neighborhood, reviewing surveillance footage from SFPD's extensive network of pole-mounted cameras throughout the City, and reconstructing the victim's final movements through transit records, rideshare data, and cell phone location history. By the time the Homicide Unit makes an arrest, the evidentiary record is typically already substantially developed.
The San Francisco Chief Medical Examiner
The San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner located at 1 Bryant Street, San Francisco determines cause and manner of death in all SF homicide cases. The Chief Medical Examiner's autopsy findings are central to every murder prosecution. We retain independent forensic pathologists to review autopsy findings and present alternative cause-of-death or manner-of-death analyses that may support a different charge characterization, a self-defense theory, or a challenge to the prosecution's forensic conclusions.
SF's Surveillance Infrastructure
San Francisco's extensive surveillance network SFPD pole-mounted cameras throughout the City, private building security cameras, Ring doorbells in residential neighborhoods, BART and Muni surveillance, and business cameras throughout SoMa, the Mission, Bayview, and the Tenderloin provides investigators with detailed timelines of suspect movement throughout the City. We obtain and analyze the complete surveillance record, challenging identifications made from footage where lighting, angle, or resolution affect reliability.
Fentanyl-Related Homicide Prosecution
San Francisco's fentanyl crisis has created a distinctive category of homicide prosecution: cases where the SF DA charges murder or manslaughter arising from the distribution of fentanyl that caused another person's death. California's implied malice theory supports second degree murder charges when a distributor is alleged to have been aware of the lethal risk of the substance they were providing. These cases are prosecuted with increasing frequency in San Francisco and require defense strategies that challenge both the causal connection between the distribution and the death and the implied malice element.
Witness and Jailhouse Informant Issues
SF homicide prosecutions frequently rely on eyewitness testimony and cooperating witnesses. In cases where the defendant is detained, jailhouse informants with documented histories of fabricating testimony for sentencing benefits sometimes emerge. We investigate every cooperating witness's agreement with the SF DA, their criminal history, their prior informant history, and any inconsistent statements made before they became prosecution witnesses.
Where Murder Cases Are Prosecuted in San Francisco
PC § 187 murder charges are prosecuted in the San Francisco Superior Court's dedicated homicide departments:
San Francisco Superior Court Hall of Justice
850 Bryant Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Murder cases in San Francisco are assigned to the SF DA's Homicide Division prosecutors with extensive trial experience in capital and life-sentence cases. These cases are tried before experienced judges in dedicated felony departments at 850 Bryant Street. The Bulldog Law appears regularly before the judges and prosecutors who handle homicide cases in San Francisco Superior Court.
Murder Defense Strategies in San Francisco
Self-Defense and Defense of Others
California law provides a complete defense to murder when the defendant reasonably believed they or another person faced imminent danger of death or great bodily injury and used no more force than was reasonably necessary. We reconstruct the full context of the events leading to the killing the victim's prior threats, their aggression, and the objective circumstances that made the defendant's belief in imminent danger reasonable. Use-of-force experts provide critical testimony on the reasonableness of the response in SF Superior Court.
Reducing First to Second Degree
Premeditation and deliberation the elements that distinguish first from second degree murder are often the most vigorously litigated issues in SF homicide trials. We challenge premeditation through evidence of the impulsive, unplanned nature of the killing, the absence of any prior planning or preparation, and expert testimony on the defendant's mental state. Reducing the verdict from first to second degree can reduce the minimum term by a decade.
Heat of Passion Reducing to Voluntary Manslaughter
If the killing occurred in the heat of passion upon sudden provocation that would cause an ordinary person to act rashly, malice is negated and the charge becomes voluntary manslaughter. We build heat of passion defenses through evidence of the victim's provocation, the immediacy of the response, and the absence of cooling time. The sentencing difference between murder and manslaughter in California can be 20 or more years of actual custody.
Challenging Forensic Evidence
We retain independent forensic pathologists, DNA experts, ballistics specialists, and crime scene reconstruction experts to challenge every aspect of the prosecution's physical evidence. The San Francisco Chief Medical Examiner's findings are subject to challenge through independent autopsy review and expert testimony on alternative cause-of-death interpretations.
SB 1437 Petition for Prior Felony Murder Convictions
If our client was convicted under the old felony murder rule as an aider or abettor who was not the actual killer and did not act with intent to kill, a PC § 1172.6 resentencing petition may be available to vacate the conviction and pursue resentencing. The Bulldog Law evaluates SB 1437 petition eligibility in every prior felony murder case and handles resentencing proceedings in San Francisco Superior Court.
Arrested for Murder in San Francisco? The First 48 Hours Are Critical
- Invoke your right to remain silent immediately and absolutely. Do not make any statement to SFPD Homicide detectives, the DA's investigators, or anyone else. Not a denial. Not an explanation. Nothing. Every word is in the police report.
- Invoke your right to an attorney clearly: ‘I want a lawyer. I will not answer any questions without my attorney present.' All questioning must stop. Any statement obtained after this invocation is suppressible.
- Do not consent to any search of your person, vehicle, or home. Murder investigations involve extensive warrant applications. Consenting to any search waives constitutional protections that may be fundamental to the defense.
- Booking for murder charges in San Francisco occurs at the Hall of Justice, 850 Bryant Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. You will be held without bail. Do not discuss any aspect of the case with other detainees jailhouse informants are actively recruited by SFPD Homicide in high-profile cases.
- Contact family to reach The Bulldog Law immediately. The defense investigation preserving surveillance footage, identifying defense witnesses, retaining forensic experts must begin as quickly as possible after arrest.
- Call The Bulldog Law at (888) 928-1609. Every hour matters in a murder defense. We begin working your case from the first call.
The Bulldog Law in San Francisco
The Bulldog Law handles murder and homicide defense throughout San Francisco. For more on self-defense law, SB 1437 felony murder reform, heat of passion defense, and fentanyl homicide prosecution in SF, visit our criminal defense blog.
To speak with a San Francisco murder defense attorney, visit our San Francisco County office or call us directly:
San Francisco Office
The Bulldog Law San Francisco, California Phone: (888) 928-1609
Frequently Asked Questions: Murder Charges in San Francisco
What is the difference between first and second degree murder in San Francisco?
First degree murder requires willfulness, deliberation, and premeditation a considered killing, even if only briefly contemplated. It carries 25 years to life. Second degree murder covers intentional killings without premeditation, or killings from conscious disregard for human life. It carries 15 years to life. The distinction between degrees is one of the most contested battlegrounds in any SF Superior Court homicide trial. Reducing a verdict from first to second degree can mean a decade's difference in the minimum term. Reducing to voluntary manslaughter can mean the difference between a life sentence and a finite term.
What did SB 1437 change about felony murder in San Francisco?
Senate Bill 1437 (effective January 1, 2019) dramatically narrowed California's felony murder rule. Under current law, a person can only be convicted of felony murder if they were the actual killer, acted with intent to kill while aiding the actual killer, or were a major participant in the underlying felony who acted with reckless indifference to human life. Aiders and abettors who did not kill and were not major participants can no longer be convicted of murder solely because a death occurred during a felony they participated in. SB 1437 applies retroactively defendants convicted under the old rule in San Francisco can petition for resentencing under PC § 1172.6.
Can I be charged with murder in San Francisco for distributing fentanyl?
Yes. San Francisco's fentanyl crisis has generated an increasing number of homicide prosecutions arising from fentanyl distribution. The SF DA's Office has pursued second degree murder charges under the implied malice theory arguing that a distributor who knows fentanyl is lethal and continues to distribute it acts with conscious disregard for human life. These prosecutions require proof of both the causal connection between the specific distribution and the death, and the distributor's knowledge of the lethal risk. The Bulldog Law challenges both elements in every fentanyl-related homicide defense.
What is life without parole and when does it apply in San Francisco?
Life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) is the sentence for first degree murder with special circumstances under PC § 190.2. Special circumstances include multiple murders, murder for financial gain, murder of a peace officer, and murder during rape, robbery, or kidnapping. LWOP means the defendant will never be eligible for parole. It represents the most severe outcome in any SF homicide prosecution and requires the most comprehensive defense resources available.
Where does SFPD's Homicide Unit operate and what resources does it have?
SFPD's Homicide Unit is headquartered at the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant Street and is one of San Francisco's most specialized investigative units. Homicide detectives work in close coordination with the SF DA's Homicide Division, the San Francisco Chief Medical Examiner's Office at 1 Bryant Street, the SFPD Crime Lab, and the SFPD's Crime Analysis Unit.
The unit has access to SFPD's extensive pole-mounted camera network, the City's automated license plate reader data, and regional law enforcement databases. By the time an arrest is made in a San Francisco homicide, the evidentiary record compiled by the Homicide Unit is typically already comprehensive.