People v. Lam Choi

The People appeal from the trial court’s order recusing the entire San Francisco City and County District Attorney’s Office from participating in this case. They contend that the trial court abused its discretion and applied an incorrect legal standard in ordering recusal. We affirm.

Factual Background

On November 16, 1996, Cuong Tran was shot to death outside the Pierce Street Annex at 3138 Fillmore Street in San Francisco. That same evening, approximately eight minutes before the Tran shooting, Dennis Natali, an attorney and close personal friend of District Attorney Terence Hallinan, was killed at the corner of Steiner and Post Streets, about a mile away. At the time of his death, Natali had a pager with him that contained the telephone number and pager code of defendant Lam Choi’s girlfriend, Vivienne Huynh, who was then living with Choi.

On July 31, 1997, the San Francisco Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Choi, Man Leung Yu, Kwon W. Tse and Reagan Huang with Tran’s murder (Pen. Code, 1 § 187.) The indictment further alleged that the defendants committed conspiracy to commit murder (§§ 182.1, 187); conspiracy to commit extortion (§§ 182.1, 518); and…