San Francisco Chinatown stabbing suspect pleads not guilty
San Francisco Chinatown stabbing suspect pleads not guilty
Jian Feng Huang, 37, pleaded not guilty to stabbing another person in San Francisco's Chinatown.
SAN FRANCISCO - A man accused of a stabbing attack in San Francisco's Chinatown neighborhood pleaded not guilty Monday and will remain jailed pending a mental health evaluation.
What we know:
Jian Feng Huang, 37, faces an attempted murder charge in connection with the attack last Thursday, which prosecutors described as unprovoked. Surveillance footage captured the incident.
According to prosecutors, Huang stabbed the victim in the back, then walked away calmly before attempting to dispose of the knife. Investigators later recovered the weapon.
Huang appeared in court with a Cantonese interpreter.
The other side:
His public defender, Tatiana Howard, moved to limit graphic details prosecutors sought to introduce, saying she wanted arguments confined to information already in official reports rather than details still under investigation.
"The information that I have is limited to the reports, so I wanted to keep the argument limited to them," Howard said.
Prosecutors also disclosed that Huang has prior law enforcement contacts, including a 2020 arson case in San Mateo County.
In that case, prosecutors alleged that he set fire to a roll or rolls of toilet paper on the stairway leading from the ground floor of the residence to the top floor, which was put out eventually.
According to the San Mateo County DA, Huang was out on bail with an ankle monitor in that case and cut it off in a San Francisco Chinatown park.
Ultimately, Huang pleaded no contest to felony arson, and he was placed on three years' supervised probation and had to register as an arson offender.
What's next:
Huang is scheduled to return to court Tuesday.