Judge fines San Francisco public defender after finding him in contempt for refusing new cases

A San Francisco judge has ordered the city's public defender to pay $26,000 in fines after finding him in contempt for refusing some new cases. Judge Harry Dorfman on Monday said Public Defender Mano Raju ignored a January order to stop turning cases away. Raju says his office faces crushing workloads and that his lawyers cannot give effective representation. The judge found staffing was adequate and studies on caseload limits are not law. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins says Raju is deliberately disrupting the courts to pressure the mayor’s budget office for more funds. Raju says he plans to appeal and keeps declining some cases.