Defense attorney: 'No racial element' in San Francisco's recyclable cans case

SAN FRANCISCO - One of the men accused of robbing an elderly Chinese American man for his aluminum cans entered not guilty pleas in court on Tuesday. Jonathan Amerson's family and defense attorney say there is no racial element to this case, that at its core this is a dispute over aluminum cans.

Amerson, 56, entered not guilty pleas in court to charges of robbery and elder abuse. Prosecutors said he is the man seen menacing 68-year old Xi Ming Zhao in a now viral video. 

"The person that you see in the video allegedly robbing that person for the cans," said Alex Bastian from San Francisco District Attorney's Office. "This person is being charged with robbery and is also being charged with elder abuse."

Amerson's family and defense attorney say this case has been cast as a racially charged incident, his defense attorney said that's simply not the case, and that the district attorney's Office seems to agree in not seeking hate crime enhancements. 

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"My client and whatever actions attributed to him are not racially motivated in any way," said defense attorney Alexandria Carl.
Amerson's brother was in the courtroom and said at its core this is a dispute over recyclables. He said his brother collects cans too, and had warned Zhou to stay away from the cans already collected. 

"He didn't hit him," said James Amerson Sr. "A lot of people have done the same thing; told him many, many times to stay out of their garbage cans. My brother recycles, and put stuff in front of my mom's house and he kept taking it. So that's all my brother was doing, taking back what was his."

The district attorney is not pursing charges against another suspect connected to this case, 20-year-old Dwayne Grayson who is accused of capturing the incident on his mobile phone and posting it to the internet. 

The DA's office said after talking with the victim they decided to not seek a criminal conviction at this point, but instead are pursuing restorative justice. 

"We respect our victims very much and their desires very much, and we will explore that," said Bastian. "If it turns out to be something that is not suitable we will have the option to bring that case back to the courtroom."

San Francisco's Police Officers Association weighed in saying in part, "once again Chesa Boudin is more interested in helping dangerous criminals than seeking justice for victims. This was a violent hate crime and should have been prosecuted as such."