Read that again. Eighteen months in a jail cell. Then a jury looked at the actual evidence and said: not guilty.

We talk a lot about public safety in this city — and rightly so. Holding dangerous people accountable is one of the core functions of government. But the system only works when it runs on integrity. When prosecutors delay handing over evidence to defense attorneys, that's not tough-on-crime. That's misconduct. It's the government using its overwhelming power to keep someone locked up while denying them the basic tools to defend themselves.

This is the kind of thing that erodes public trust in the entire justice system. Every legitimate conviction gets a little harder to believe when the DA's office plays games with discovery. Every victim who deserves justice has to wonder whether their case is being handled by professionals or by bureaucrats who cut corners.

And let's talk about the cost — because someone's paying for 18 months of incarceration. That's taxpayer money. Tens of thousands of dollars spent housing someone a jury ultimately decided shouldn't have been there. Add in the inevitable civil liability, and you're looking at a bill that San Francisco residents will foot because their DA's office couldn't be bothered to follow basic legal obligations.

Due process isn't a technicality. It's not a loophole defense attorneys exploit. It's a constitutional right — the thing that separates a justice system from a punishment system. When the government can lock you up and then stall on showing its work, that's not justice. That's just power without accountability.

San Francisco deserves a DA's office that prosecutes vigorously and plays by the rules. Those two things aren't in conflict. In fact, one is meaningless without the other.