An elderly San Francisco man was acquitted of attempted murder charges stemming from a violent altercation between him and his ex-wife involving a knife earlier this year, the San Francisco Public Defender's Office announced on Monday.
Damien Alvarez, 81, was cleared of both attempted murder charges and all lesser charges by a San Francisco jury. Alvarez is a retired shopkeeper and long-time resident of the Mission District with no prior criminal convictions.
The incident occurred inside the former couple's apartment building on the evening of June 3 when Alvarez's ex-wife told him needed to move out. Alvarez testified that she became verbally violent, eventually placing a large kitchen knife on the table next to her. Alvarez attempted to take the knife due to fear she might attack him with it and that’s when "the struggle ensued."
Police arrived around midnight to find both individuals with blood on their clothes and arrested Alvarez, who was charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, assault likely to cause great bodily injury, battery on a domestic partner and criminal threats.
According to the public defender's office, the jury did not find Alavarez's ex-wife credible at the trial "due to multiple untruthful statements she made under oath."
Meanwhile, Alvarez's lawyers argued "that police failed to investigate the Mr. Alvarez's injuries, and that Mr. Alvarez had acted in reasonable self-defense."
"While this was a distressing incident for both parties, it is clear that Mr. Alvarez was not the aggressor in this situation. He and his family have long suffered various forms of physical, emotional and financial abuse at the hands of his ex-wife," Deputy Public Defender Martina Avalos said in a statement. "To retry this matter would be futile and only exacerbate the conflict between the parties. Repeated efforts to obtain a conviction in this case would have a traumatic impact on Mr. Alvarez who would yet again face serious consequences despite being found credible by this jury."
The jury deliberated for three days before returning a verdict of not guilty on attempted murder, not guilty on attempted manslaughter, and hung 7-5 in favor of innocence on three assault charges.
Related
