please help -- i also want to echo what natasha said. talk to 10 of your friends, send e-mails, send letters. thank you. [applause] >> 1985, when i was sentenced to death for a crime i did not commit, i thought right away that this would be rectified. i was convicted of two different crimes. it took 18 years. it took me seven execution dates. i watched 12 then be executed while i was there -- i watched 12 and then be executed while i was there. i'm not in a position to say whether either of them -- whether any of them were guilty or innocent. mr. d.a., i am asking you, truly consider leaving the death

penalty along. let that be in god's hands, what that person goes through or deals with. there are too many flaws in our system that we cannot control and we cannot trust a man. i am asking you to consider that, to take the consideration of that. the question we did not answer was it one of these guys were in this and that was executed by a prosecutor that had evidence that was clearly convincing that that person was innocent, what would you do? that was a simple question to me. that was not a tricky question. it was a straight up question dealing with innocence and the prosecutor doing something that was considered murder or attempted murder. you could answer that. you faded around that question, and to me, that is enough to make me think you should consider not dealing with the death penalty and joining in the

fight to abolish the death penalty. we went to illinois, and i was with another group. we would go from state to state that have the death penalty and go to legislators and everyone asking them to abolish the death penalty. in the last two years, we have been successful. it appears like we are going to have to put california on our list. but that is all i wanted to say. that is something that once you take a life, you cannot bring it back. accountability needs to be on your part, too, on the district attorney's part, so if he knew a man was innocent and still prosecuted him, that a straight up murder -- that is straight up murder. that is not malfeasance. [applause]

>> i want to thank the public defender's office for putting this panel together. i understand there was a good panel this morning. these are issues that are conflicts, and they require continuing dialogue. the law is not perfect. the law is always evolving. it was an honor also to be with the other panelists here. i think that the issue of the death penalty is one that obviously is right -- ripe for us to bring this back to the voters. i think there is a great deal of evidence today that speaks to the problems of wrongful convictions. i think we all understand what the factors are. we know there is a problem with wrongful convictions -- convictions. there is certainly a problem with prisoner treatment, and there is a problem with closure to the victims as well as the financial costs.

it is up to all of us collectively to talk about how we deal with this and create a more profitable policy around dealing with very serious crimes, and i welcome the opportunity for having been here today. thank you very much. [applause] >> jeff adacci has a few closing remarks. >> i am a public defender. >> good afternoon. i am with the d a's office. >> in closing today's program, we want to first of all thank all of you for being here and being part of this discussion. no doubt, we achieved a great deal. this was not just another talking head conference where people were just here to give a speech. you really heard engaged

discussion from this morning all the way up until now. we thank our panelists because they came here with an open heart and an open mind. we are going to talk in a minute about how we are going to move things forward. i want to thank the staff of the public defender's office and the many volunteers who made this possible. we thank the library staff as well as sfgovtv for their good work here. john came here because we invited him and because he knew that he is making a difference and will continue to make a difference. after serving 14 years on death row and spending 18 years of his life fighting the case, he

continued to fight for justice, and he brought his case to the united states supreme court. he received a $40 million jury verdict, and in april, the united states supreme court overturned that, even though in this case, there were three prosecutors who have -- who were found to have intentionally withheld evidence that would have exonerated him. plus, and this is a great lesson for all of us, it was a prosecutor who was the hero. he stood up and came forward and told everybody what the other two prosecutors did. when he did that, his efforts were rebuked by the district attorney. as a result, he left his job. it tells you that there are heroes everywhere. people are standing up for justice everywhere.

we have to reach everyone everywhere every place in order to solve this problem. we do have a plaque to presented -- present to j.t > as a result of everything he has been through, but more importantly, to help him in the future -- present to j.t. as a result of everything he has been through, but more importantly, for everything he will do in the future. you can support the work he does with a reentry program for persons coming back from prison. so if we could present this to you. [applause]

moving forward, our work cannot stop here. i would like to have christine talk about what we are going to be doing moving forward. we have had meetings with district attorney george gascono about doing things differently. within the police chief, a new district attorney, we have that opportunity -- with a new police chief, a new district attorney, we have that opportunity. i would also like to acknowledge supervisor ross mirkarimi to come up here just for a moment and say hello, and let me have christine close the program. >> good afternoon, everybody. it was a pleasure to listen to the last panel this afternoon. i am the chief of staff for mr. gascon, and i joined him when he

moved over to the d.a.'s office. joining the office on his request, because i think we really have a unique perspective, having worked on the defense side and on policy issues, and i can attest that he is undertaking a wholehearted effort to really bring some reform to the criminal justice system on many fronts, this being one of them that we are evaluating. i hope that you as city and county residents will see in our work that we really take some efforts that will reform. anybody that has participated in the criminal justice system for any length of time knows that it does not work from whatever and will you are looking at it, so the question is how do we make it better? we hope to engage all of you in that. we are starting neighborhood courts, and a lot of efforts that we hope to engage the city and county in supporting us and looking at ways to move away from the over incarceration of people and look at ways to

reform their behavior. the efforts we have undertaken when george was appointed to the position -- jeff asked him to come to the public defender's office to have a question and answer session, which he did, and i attended with him. we are told that was the first time that had ever happened, and we reciprocated by asking jeff to meet with the district attorneys in our office. we have begun a dialogue that both sides think is very healthy. we have identified a number of issues that we think require further exploration, so we are creating working group's staff by the people from the d.a.'s office and the public defender's office to look at improving things like discovery, which is an important issue, making sure that we have reciprocal discovery and that it is transparent and complete. looking at workers from collaborative courts, looking at solutions besides incarceration, dealing with mental health and behavioral health issues, rather than using the jails as a

solution to that, and we are also working around juvenile issues to make sure we are doing all we can for those under the age of 18 in our community. those are the efforts we are undertaking. jeff and matt have been a fantastic partners in this. as far as we know, it is a new day in these efforts and really trying to work collaboratively and we hope to have all your support in doing that. [applause] >> of course, that is not to say that we are not going to fight it out in court because, of course, that is what we do. i would like to briefly introduce ross mirkarimi, who is a supervisor here in the city, and he has been a champion of many criminal justice issues, including prisoner reentry. i also want to thank and acknowledge debra atherton.

thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: it is nice to see everybody. jeff is generous. i was not expecting to be up here. i know you have had a productive day. i think that the public defender's summit is something not to be missed and a template for the rest of california and probably the nation to follow. i am proud of our public defender. i am proud of our criminal justice partners because over the last four years, we have seen a great amount of innovation. jeff and i started the city's first reentry council, and it might be bewildering to you, but before we started it, believe it or not, those stakeholders in the criminal-justice system really very irregularly rarely would come together and talk about ways that we might mitigate, reduce our recidivism rate.

great progress has been made, but san francisco still needs to step up its game. i was delighted to hear the conversation that took place here, but no the statistic that for every four people that sanford's is the police department arrests and the da prosecutes, nearly three are repeat offenders -- for every four people that san francisco police department arrests and the da prosecutes -- the d.a. prosecutes. there is evidence to show that doing everything we can to try to divert some of his life from repeating their offense, but we will have to really vigorously enhance our approach. one way to do that obviously is the collaboration being fostered and demonstrated here today, but it is more than just today. it will have to be every single day, or else california will continue to be building more prisons, and san francisco may

not be far behind. thanks. [applause] >> once again, thanks for the flag. [laughter] have a good time. have a good evening. thank you very much. [applause]

>> good afternoon. i want to thank everyone for coming. this is going to be the it gets better video, the first of its kind, produced by a law enforcement agency in the united states. some months ago, the commander came to me and said that she had a guy. it was a revelation at the time.

she meant shawn norcutt, who was going to do our video for us. he has become not only are championed but our friend. unbelievable. along the way, i would be remiss if i did not recognize mike and albea, who worked with shawn to produce a very powerful video on such a critical subject. the young people in this country and in san francisco. without further ado, it is showtime. >> my name is greg and i'm the chief of police for the san francisco police department. i was a small young man in san francisco and i would get bullied all the time. i had many brothers and sisters and i really appreciated when people stop off for me. i cannot even imagine what it is

like growing up as a lgbt youth today. nobody deserves to be bullied. it does get better. until it does, we are going to stick up for you. believe me, it gets better. >> my name is andrea. >> my name is windy and i am a sergeant. >> i am a commander. >> i am a sergeant with the san francisco police department. >> i am a dispatcher. >> my name is michelle martinez and i am a commander with the san francisco police department. >> i am a police officer. >> i am a commander. >> i am an officer with the san francisco police department >> i grew up in new york city triet >> houston, texas. let's right outside manhattan. >> i am a native she said.

>> my father was a sicilian man. >> my mother was and italian catholics. >> my mother was from japan. i was a bit of a tomboy. >> things got very awkward and strange for me. i had to start trying to act like one and look like one. >> i would always dress in jeans and converse tennis shoes. my girlfriends would be checking out the guys and i would be checking out the girls. >> i had these close friendships with my best girlfriend and i was hiding from my senior prom date. >> there was never someone i could talk to because i thought i was different. >> by the age of five or six i already knew that i should keep it on the down low. >> i knew, absolutely, that i was not supposed to talk about it. >> i was not honest with myself or my family and. >> you are raised with the idea

that you're supposed to grow up and have a family. >> find the man of your dreams to would support you. >> grow up and get married and have a husband. >> a wife, two children, a defense. -- picket fence. >> i did not have any positive gay role models that were out there. >> all of the imagery associated with gays and lesbians was someone you were supposed to laugh at or someone who was supposed to be ridiculed. >> i did not have anything that showed me it was ok to be who i am. >> i had times when i did not want to get up and get out of bed, face the day.

>> the feeling was really low. >> i wanted to just not be around. >> i thought of suicide. i was depressed. >> mostly, the message was that there was something wrong with me and i should just died. >> it did not feel good to want what i thought everybody should want. it just made me angry. >> there was a part of me that was a little bit ashamed. >> when the pain got too bad, in the pit of my stomach, i realize i need to tell my parents. >> mom, i think i am gay. she says, i think i knew that. >> it was harder for me to tell my mom that it was for my mom to hear what i needed to say. >> i was a police officer for four years, thinking i was the only gay male police officer in the world. i believe i was the only gay male police officer in the world.

>> others were like, huh? >> their jaws dropped. i expected my father to have a different reaction than he did. he looked about me and said, are you happy? i said, yes. he said, he looked down and said, then who gives a shit? >> and then he said, maybe solve all is not a good idea. softball is true all gayness for women. >> i started crying and i broke down and started -- and told them. i want you to know that i am gay. there was a very long pause and me crying and all of a sudden, my grandfather, who is, by all means, the typical person that would not accept someone who is gay, he broke the silence and

said, stacy, we love you. >> my whole world suddenly opened up. >> telling that first person was a big deal. after the first few people, i just started acting like it was everybody should know this. >> this is who i am. >> i will never forget this. i opened the door, my dad is out there. he looks at me and says, i am so sorry if i ever said fag. >> my life now is great. >> i would have missed the first time being held by someone i

love. loving, i would have missed experiencing the joy and jubilation of life. people who show me amazing new things all the time, new ways to think and look at the world. i never foresaw being a police officer. i thought it was something that i could not do. >> things keep getting better for me. >> it does get better. >> i will help you and i will protect you and i will listen. >> we are here to help make your transition as smooth as possible. >> it does get better. >> oh, it gets better. >> so many people just like you. >> things start getting better as soon as you reach out to other people. >> you do not have to tolerate peoples in on acceptance of you. you just forge ahead and do what you love and it just gets better.

>> nothing in life is worth harming yourself. nothing. if you give up trying, they have one. you cannot let them win. >> you just need to be you. >> you need to know that you are ok, you are beautiful. you are a person who has tremendous value. you have something to give. >> you are not alone. >> stop putting up with everyone's crap. just be yourself. >> people might talk about you, but it is all ok. there is help out there. >> call the police because we will be there. it will get better. >> it gets way better. >> a lot better. >> it does get better. your life can be so full of love and amazing. special experiences and it gets so much better. [applause]

>> if i could, can i get the stars of the show to stand up and take it out? -- take a bow? [applause] they talk about the courage of cops all the time. that took a lot of courage to do that. shawn, thank you. god bless you. without any further ado, the mayor of san for cisco, -- san francisco, edwin lee. >> i had a chance to preview this as well. the one that touches me is, i am a san francisco police officer.

i am there for you and i will help you. it will get better. those are the ones that stand out. masterfully placed in this video by some of those who just started appreciating and led by the chief and commander, having the officers really unveil their own personal stories. it is, for me, a moment of being proud of our department and everybody in it. it is hard for people to come out and say where they have been. but this police department, with this video, how it is put together, is now joining a worldwide campaign. a campaign that we have been forced to acknowledge. it has to be done because of the numbers of stories that we have heard across the country. in cities like ours. bullying, harassment, discrimination have caused young

teenagers to consider the worst of life at their age. that isolation and loneliness that accompanies that, the have not been heard by adults and people and had not seen partners in their areas. the consideration of suicide has been unveiled in this country because of that. the trevor project and the it gets better movement started about 1.5 years ago. it has made it through different point of the country -- different parts of the country, political persons of notoriety, including nancy pelosi all the way up to secretary of state clinton and president obama himself, recently. we felt and i have very much supported the collaboration that lee did with our chief and the

war department to get everybody to speak out on this and contribute to this very necessary content -- campaign of education. representatives of our school department, are unified school district, our public safety agencies, to share in this responsibility that we need to talk to our kids. we need to tell them the words that are here. we need to put it in a way in which it really gets to them. it is not only well done, but you cannot walk away and not be emotional about wanting to be part of this movement. i want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, the individual officers who stepped up, not only as uniformed officers, but in our whole public safety division. everybody is coming together to say that -- i think this is an incredible contribution that is

the first in the country of officially contributing, as a police department, adding its voice to voices that need to be heard. a lot of kids still need to hear the love and embracing that we have for them, the care that we have for them. they know that there is an answer and they know there are friends and they know there will be police department, to act to protect them against these things so they will feel for sure that things will get better. this is a wonderful contribution. shawn, it is masterfully done, and it brings out not only the officers' lives, but our unity as a city to want to do something significant that could contribute to this worldwide movement. thank you very much to everybody in. [applause] >> the next speaker