Chesa Boudin (/ˈtʃeɪsə buːˈdiːn/, CHAY-sə boo-DEEN;[4] born August 21, 1980) is an American lawyer who served as the 29th District Attorney of San Francisco from January 8, 2020, to July 8, 2022.

[5][6] Brooke Jenkins, who was a leading figure and critic of Boudin in the recall election, was chosen by Mayor London Breed to succeed him as interim District Attorney.

[10][11] After his parents were incarcerated, Boudin was adopted and raised in Hyde Park, Chicago, by fellow Weather Underground members Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

[21] He earned his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2011 and began work for the San Francisco Public Defender's Office as a Liman fellow in 2012.

[37][38] Boudin campaigned for the office on a decarceration platform of eliminating cash bail, establishing a unit to re-evaluate wrongful convictions, and refusing to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with raids and arrests.

[40] Attorney General William Barr criticized Boudin and like-minded DAs, accusing them of undermining the police, letting criminals off the hook, and endangering public safety.

[44][45] On January 26, Boudin suspended the process of prosecuting Jamaica Hampton, a man who was shot and seriously injured in an altercation with police, during which he was captured in body camera footage striking an officer with a liquor bottle in San Francisco's Mission District.

[56][57][58] His first policy as district attorney was the implementation of a diversion program for primary caregiver parents of minor children who were charged with misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies, in accordance with SB394.

[59] In January 2020, he eliminated cash bail and replaced it with a "risk-based system", in which prosecutors evaluate whether or not a defendant poses a threat to public safety as a condition for their pretrial release.

John Raphling, a senior researcher at the Human Rights Watch, praised the decision, stating that bail and pretrial incarceration has been used "as leverage to pressure people to plead guilty regardless of actual guilt."

Conversely, Tony Montoya, president of the SFPOA, condemned the decision, arguing that the risk-based system is an "arbitrary math equation" and that the change would create a "criminal justice revolving door".

[64][65][66] On June 1, 2020, a group of active and retired district attorneys in California—including Boudin, Diana Becton, and George Gascón—called on the State Bar of California to prohibit elected prosecutors from accepting campaign contributions from police unions.

[66] He introduced a new policy wherein cases would not be charged or prosecuted based on the sole evidence of officers with a history of misconduct, such as excessive force or discrimination, without prior approval of the district attorney.

[78] Boudin theorized that the rise of burglaries in neighborhoods such as Bernal Heights was due to "economic desperation" from the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift of targeting from tourists to residents and small businesses.

Responses to the survey were mixed, and some respondents, including sexual assault survivors whose cases were dismissed by Boudin's office, found the questions to be insensitive.

[85][86][87] When asked about the January 2021 killing of Vicha Ratanapakdee, Boudin called the crime "heinous" but did not think that the attack was racially motivated, stating that "the defendant was in some sort of a temper tantrum.

The family, together with groups such as Asians Are Strong, United Peace Collaborative, Stop AAPI Hate, and career prosecutor Nancy Tung protested Boudin's action and organized a demonstration outside the Hall of Justice.

[98][99][100] Samantha Michaels in Mother Jones claimed that "crime rates are not spiraling out of control, and there’s no evidence that Boudin or other DAs are responsible for the upticks that have occurred.

Michaels also noted that murder rates had risen nationally during the pandemic, and while there was a 36 percent spike in San Francisco homicides in 2021, many other areas saw a greater rise.

[102] The fact happened following a case of a defendant charged with felony gun possession and driving with a suspended or revoked license, which the prosecution asked Chan to dismiss after the DA had failed to disclose DNA evidence for over a year.

[102][105] The public defender, Martina Avalos, further rebuked Boudin’s office for routinely failing to turn over exculpatory evidence in a reasonable amount of time, resulting in Brady disclosure violations.

She claims that, while describing herself as a progressive prosecutor and agreeing with the necessity of criminal justice reform, she believes that Boudin's prioritization of ideology caused disorganization, lack of morale in the DA office, and hurt victims and families.

[114][115][62][116] Troy Ramon McAlister, a repeat offender who had three federal felony convictions before 2015, was released on parole from state prison on April 10, 2020, under a plea appeal with Boudin's office and was arrested by police in November and December 2020 for vehicle and drug crimes.

[117][118][119] Following the arrest, Jason Calacanis began raising money to hire an independent investigative journalist to cover the district attorney's office to hold him "accountable to the people of San Francisco".

[120] In February 2021, Jerry Lyons ran a red light in a stolen Ford Explorer and slammed into a group of cars, killing pedestrian Sheria Musyoka near Lake Merced.

[121][122][123] The death of Musyoka led to a petition by former San Francisco mayoral candidate Richie Greenberg, demanding Boudin resign immediately.

[143] On January 24, 2022, the Alliance of Asian American Justice filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the San Francisco District Attorney's office on behalf of 69-year old Ahn Lê, victim of a baseball bat assault by a father and son in November 2019.

[149] In November 2020, Boudin lobbied New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to commute the 75-year-to-life prison sentence of his father David Gilbert, the last member of Weather Underground still incarcerated for their involvement in the 1981 Brink's robbery and three related murders.

[152] The effort to release his father was led by CUNY School of Law professor Steve Zeidman and supported by 45 faith leaders including Ela Gandhi, Bernice King, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

[150][151] On August 24, his final night as governor of New York due to his resignation, Cuomo commuted Gilbert's sentence, making him eligible to apply for parole.