People v. Holbrook CA1/1

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL

BACKGROUND

Early on the morning of October 15, 2022, the San Francisco Police Department received a report about an incident on a Muni bus. An officer responded to McAllister Street and Van Ness Avenue and spoke to the bus driver. The driver stated that a passenger asked him to drive to Post Street. After the driver indicated that Post was not on his route, the passenger “pulled out [what] looked like a Glock with an extended clip.” The driver then “pretended [he] was going to fix the bus and just took off.” He saw the passenger walk away down the street. Another police officer quickly located Holbrook about two blocks away from the bus, on Polk Street. In his pockets, Holbrook had a nine-millimeter semiautomatic pistol with no serial number and a bullet. Later testing confirmed that the gun was “a real firearm” and operable. Holbrook did not call any witnesses, and his main defenses at trial were that (1) the gun might be a replica firearm and (2) the chain of custody was broken, so the gun tested might not be the one seized from him. The operative information charged Holbrook with four felony counts: being a felon in possession of a firearm,…