Government
Aug. 9, 2002
DA's Office Loses Giannini
SAN FRANCISCO - Al Giannini, who in 24 years with the San Francisco district attorney's office handled homicides and other serious crimes, has resigned to take a prosecution job in San Mateo County.
Giannini will make the move Sept. 27, according to Mark MacNamara, spokesman for District Attorney Terence Hallinan.
"It's a body blow to the office," said Randall Knox, a former prosecutor turned criminal defense attorney. "He's head and shoulders the best trial lawyer there and a great resource to the younger lawyers. Whenever you lose a rare talent like Al ... the office will be diminished by his absence."
Giannini was one of the office's top prosecutors for many years, but last year Hallinan transferred him to the gang unit to prosecute murders in the Bayview district. Neither Hallinan nor Giannini was available for comment, but the move was seen in some circles as a demotion. MacNamara declined to comment on Giannini's career.
Although he has been serving as a gang prosecutor for several months, Giannini was still handling the much-delayed prosecution of Jehad Baqleh for the 1999 rape and murder of Julie Day. Giannini's departure means Hallinan will have to reassign the case.
The 24-year-old Day, of Walnut Creek, was last seen getting into Baqleh's taxi outside a bar in the Financial District. Six days later, her body was unearthed by a backhoe operator at a South of Market construction site. The coroner's office said she had been strangled or asphyxiated.
Robert Selna
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