Sacramento DA’s recent threat, demands on homelessness divide observers as deadline arrives
If Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho has any regrets about sparking a verbal feud over homelessness last month, he doesn’t show it.
Ho threatened to file criminal charges against Sacramento officials if they don’t meet a series of his demands. That, he said, was driven by a desire to have the city do more to provide people with shelter, services and treatment.
If he has to shake things up, and make people a little uncomfortable, then so be it.
“The status quo cannot last any longer,” he told The Sacramento Bee in an interview. “Enough is enough. We have to do something.”
Still, Ho’s unusual warning has left many at odds over his true motive. Is it a genuine desire to help solve what may be the city’s most pressing issue? Or a political maneuver meant to promote himself?
The answer could become clearer this week. Ho told city officials they had 30 days to clear encampments, cite people who refuse shelter, and implement a daytime camping ban, among other measures. That deadline is now here.
Ho, 49, dismissed any notion that his recent outspokenness was driven by political ambition.
“This is about public safety,” he said. “Pure and simple.”
Many people believe him.
“I think Thien Ho has an obligation as a prosecutor and that’s how he’s looking at it,” said juvenile defense attorney Kevin Adamson. The two have faced off in trials several times, Adamson noted, and dealt with each other on many other cases.
“I don’t think it’s political at all,” he said. “That’s not the person I know.”
Others view his actions less favorably. To them, it is more about grabbing headlines to aid his political career.
“I can’t read Thien Ho’s mind,” said Anthony Prince, an attorney for the Sacramento Homeless Union, “but I think his conduct is consistent with other elected officials, or want-to-be elected officials, that are riding the anti-homeless wave.”
Either way, Ho’s decision to add lighter fluid to an already heated conversation was a sharp turn from a more cooperative approach he had upon taking office.
Ho gave a speech during a county Board of Supervisors meeting in January, shortly after he was sworn in. He referenced a quote about the importance of working together to go far, before mentioning homelessness and other challenges the county faces.
“We must go together,” he said.
When asked about the change, Ho responded: “How long do we have to wait?”
He sounded undaunted by his controversial strategy.
“If I can use encouragement. If I can use pressure. If I can use the megaphone and the platform of this office and the laws to really encourage those and require government entities, such as the city, to move forward, then I’m going to do it.”
Spurring a conversation
Ho started at the district attorney’s office in 2004. He worked his way up taking on tough cases, including those involving gangs, sex crimes and homicides.
He earned a reputation as a skilled prosecutor who was meticulous in the courtroom.
Attorney Jan Karowsky recalls how Ho remembered jurors names without notes during a 2014 murder trial. And he delivered his opening statement and closing argument without them either. Karowsky’s client was found guilty, but a co-defendant was acquitted.
“I don’t know anything about him as a politician,” Karowsky said, “but I have absolute respect for him as a human being, a lawyer, and a prosecutor.”
In 2018, Ho and another attorney were selected to prosecute Joseph DeAngelo, a former police officer dubbed the Golden State Killer. DeAngelo pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison after he was accused of a series of rapes and murders.
Steve Grippi, a former chief deputy in the district attorney’s office, said Ho was put on the case because he is reliable. Grippi sees him as genuine and passionate about his work.
“Regardless of what anyone thinks of his decision making, he’s a tremendous speaker.”
On his way to becoming district attorney, Ho called homelessness a top priority. He said housing, mental health care and drug addiction treatment were key to helping the thousands of unhoused people in the region.
Jeffrey Schaff, a Sacramento attorney, said “homelessness always came up” in conversations he had with Ho during the campaign.
“Now we’re seeing him trying to implement some of his policies,” Schaff said.
Ho escalated his words in June after Judge Michael Bowman, who presides over Sacramento Superior Court, asked the city to increase its police presence around the downtown county courthouse. A day later, Ho followed with his own letter to city officials. Like Bowman, he urged them to enforce laws. He said employees in his office had been accosted and threatened by unhoused people.
Then came the Aug. 7 letter. In it, Ho also demanded the city prosecute certain offenses, hire more attorneys and audit its spending on homelessness. He threatened to pursue misdemeanor charges against officials for allowing a public nuisance on city property if they did not act within 30 days.
In response, Mayor Darrell Steinberg called the letter a “political stunt” and said the district attorney’s “public posture is at best disingenuous and at worst dangerous.”
He defended the city’s efforts and said he had met privately with Ho in July to try and work together.
Asked about Ho’s motivation for the recent letter, Mary Lynne Vellinga, Steinberg’s chief of staff, declined to speculate.
“We just want District Attorney Ho to be part of the solution as we seek to work more closely with all of our government partners to solve this crisis,” Vellinga said.
Other Sacramento City Council members declined to comment or did not respond to interview requests.
Ho did not call out or threaten county officials in his letters. Even so, only one Sacramento County supervisor, Pat Hume, agreed to an interview. Hume, who joined the board this year, said he has “absolute respect” for Ho.
“I think the point of his letter,” Hume said, “was simply to say we’ve kicked the tires long enough and we need to figure out how to move forward.”
Former Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo wondered why Ho didn’t also express his frustration to county officials. The county has more money and services and is better equipped to help unhoused people than the city, she said. And homelessness is a regional issue.
Still, Fargo acknowledged: “He did spur the conversation.”
Where that conversation goes is unclear. In the recent interview, Ho did not rule out filing criminal charges or a civil lawsuit.
But he did hold firm on the deadline he set.
Some people will say it is not enough time, he said. “My response to that is: They’ve had seven years,” alluding to Steinberg’s tenure as mayor.
Tim Swanson, a city spokesman, said City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood planned to respond to Ho’s recent letter in writing.
Tom Johnson, a defense attorney who used to be a prosecutor, said he’s watched Ho work his cases hard in courtrooms. And he’s seen his resoluteness extend outside of them, too. Johnson noted how Anne Marie Schubert, the previous district attorney, didn’t initially back Ho to succeed her. He had to fight to win her endorsement and the job.
“People,” Johnson said, “shouldn’t underestimate, ever, his resolve.”
