A mentally ill San Francisco man accused of attempting to rape a 99-year-old woman in a Chinatown apartment building on New Year's Eve last year was acquitted of the most serious charges he faced this week, and found guilty of two misdemeanors.
27-year-old Teandre Howard-Kidd was found not guilty on Monday of felony burglary and burglary with the intent to commit sexual assault. A jury did find him guilty of two misdemeanors, however: assault and elder abuse. As the Examiner reports, Deputy Public Defender Sujung Kim argued in court that Howard-Kidd suffers from schizophrenia and he did not intend to rape the elderly victim when he forced his way into her apartment on December 31, 2018. The incident happened at North Ping Yuen apartments at 838 Pacific Avenue.
The jury apparently accepted Kim's argument that Howard-Kidd believed he was entering his uncle's apartment after the 99-year-old woman answered the door. And Kim argued that Howard-Kidd was having delusions when he lied on her bed and pulled down his pants.
An initial police report suggested that he also "pushed himself" onto the woman, but in court Kim described it as he "reached for the woman." As prosecutors originally detailed in January, the woman told Howard-Kidd that her bones hurt and "she could not do it." Within four minutes, according to surveillance footage, Howard-Kidd left the woman's apartment.
Howard-Kidd has been a frequent patient of emergency psychiatric services in San Francisco, and Kim said following the verdict "he was acting and responding through the lens of his mental illness" and he "did not intend to rape anyone."
Elderly advocate Anni Chung gave a statement to the Examiner saying that the jury's verdict "trivialized the crime and experience of the victim."
First degree burglary with the intent to commit sexual assault — which Howard-Kidd was acquitted of — comes with possible life sentence. He will return to court January 2 for sentencing.