Troy McAlister Case: Charges, Boudin Recall, and Civil Claim

The Troy McAlister case centers on a San Francisco man charged with killing two pedestrians in a New Year’s Eve 2020 crash while driving a stolen car under the influence of methamphetamine and alcohol. McAlister was on state parole at the time, released months earlier through a plea deal negotiated by then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s office. The case became the defining example used by supporters of the 2022 recall that removed Boudin from office, and as of late 2025 McAlister had not yet gone to trial.

The New Year’s Eve 2020 Crash

Around 4 p.m. on December 31, 2020, McAlister ran a red light at Second and Mission streets in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood and struck two women in a crosswalk.¹ Prosecutors said he was speeding, high on methamphetamine, drunk, and fleeing a burglary he had just committed.² The car was stolen.

Hanako Abe, 27, a real estate analyst originally from Fukushima, Japan, was pronounced dead at the scene. Elizabeth Platt, 60, a longtime San Francisco resident and radio DJ at station KXSF, was taken to a hospital and later died.³ McAlister ran from the vehicle into a nearby building and was arrested within minutes.⁴ He was 45.

Why McAlister Was on the Street

McAlister had a criminal record stretching back to 1995, when at age 19 he was convicted of second-degree robbery and earned his first strike under California’s three-strikes law.⁵⁶⁷

The 2020 Plea Deal

In July 2015, McAlister robbed two women at a Mission District market using a toy airsoft gun. Given his prior strikes, prosecutors could have pursued a three-strikes sentence of 25 years to life. Instead he sat in county jail for nearly five years awaiting trial.⁷

In March 2020, under newly elected DA Chesa Boudin, whose office had adopted a general policy against seeking three-strikes enhancements, McAlister pleaded guilty to second-degree felony robbery. The other charges and prior-strike allegations were dropped. A judge sentenced him to five years, the statutory maximum without enhancements, and released him immediately for time already served. Boudin’s office cited his positive conduct in jail, including a high school diploma and letters of recommendation from case managers, as factors supporting the deal.⁵ McAlister went on two years of state parole.

Five Arrests in Six Months

Between June and December 2020, San Francisco police arrested McAlister five times on suspicion of property crimes, including burglary and driving stolen vehicles. The DA’s office declined to file charges in every instance, saying police had not presented enough evidence for convictions. It referred McAlister to his parole agent after each of the first four arrests.⁷

After the fifth arrest on December 20, 2020, an assistant DA emailed a police sergeant asking that the parole agent be notified. The sergeant was out for the Christmas holiday and never saw the message. McAlister was released on December 23. On December 29, Daly City police received a report that he had brandished a gun and stolen a vehicle. Parole agents tried to locate him but failed to make contact before the fatal crash two days later.⁵

The Charges

Boudin’s office charged McAlister with two counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated along with at least seven other felonies.⁷ The full list identified in later proceedings included vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run causing death, reckless driving causing injury, driving under the influence, possession of methamphetamine, and resisting arrest.⁸ McAlister pleaded not guilty and faces more than 20 years in prison if convicted.⁵

Where the Case Stands

The prosecution has moved unusually slowly. In March 2025, the DA’s Office dismissed the original case and obtained a fresh grand jury indictment under a new case number.⁹ McAlister’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Scott Grant, was not present for those proceedings and called them a “secret grand jury.” He was still seeking the grand jury transcript as of late 2025.

Diversion Denied

In October 2025, the defense asked Judge Michael Begert to send McAlister to San Francisco’s Drug Court instead of trial. Grant argued that intensive treatment would better serve public safety than incarceration and that McAlister’s lifelong drug addiction drove his criminal behavior.¹⁰ The DA’s Office, now under Brooke Jenkins, opposed the request. Activists rallied outside the Hall of Justice, and community members threatened a recall of Begert if he approved the transfer.¹¹

On October 28, 2025, Begert denied the request. California’s vehicle code prohibits drug diversion for DUI offenses, and the judge rejected the defense’s proposed workaround of severing the DUI charge from the remaining counts.¹¹ From the bench, Begert told McAlister: “Your actions, in combination with some terrible luck, have resulted in two people losing their lives… I think the way forward, as I see it, is for you to face your community through the criminal justice system and take accountability.”¹²

Motion to Dismiss

A jury trial had been set for November 25, 2025, but that date passed without a trial beginning.¹³ Grant filed a 995 motion seeking dismissal of the felony charges, arguing that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence at the preliminary hearing to send the case to a jury. That motion was scheduled for hearing on December 19, 2025, before Judge Michael Rhoads. No new trial date had been set in the most recent available reporting.

Recusal Fight Over DA Jenkins

In January 2023, Grant moved to recuse Jenkins and her office. The defense alleged that while still an assistant DA, Jenkins had emailed unredacted police reports and McAlister’s rap sheet to the personal email of colleague Donald Du Bain in October 2021. Both prosecutors left the office days later and joined the Boudin recall campaign, where they highlighted McAlister’s criminal history.¹⁴ Grant argued Jenkins had used the case for “personal and political gain.” Jenkins acknowledged the email but said she had mistakenly used a personal rather than government address. A State Bar complaint was filed against her.¹⁵

The Boudin Recall

The McAlister case became the most prominent example used by supporters of the campaign to recall Boudin. Critics, including former prosecutors from Boudin’s own office, argued that his approach to repeat offenders enabled the tragedy, pointing to the plea deal that avoided a potential life sentence and the repeated refusals to file charges during the 2020 arrests. Pro-recall advertisements featured Hiroko Abe, Hanako’s mother.⁷

Boudin called the deaths a “devastating tragedy” but defended his office, arguing that the plea deal reflected McAlister’s positive jail conduct and that the post-release arrests lacked evidence to prosecute. On June 7, 2022, San Francisco voters recalled him by roughly 55% to 45%. Recall supporters raised $7.2 million.¹⁶ Mayor London Breed appointed Jenkins to replace him.

Parole and the Communication Breakdown

One of the most contested aspects of the case is what the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did with the DA’s repeated referrals. CDCR spokesperson Mary Xjimenez said the agency had made “appropriate referrals” for re-entry resources and that parole officials “followed all procedures,” though she offered no specifics about sanctions actually imposed.⁵

Alison Platt, Elizabeth Platt’s sister, said she was “significantly more concerned that the parole department seemed to have dropped the ball” than she was about the DA’s handling, noting that the parole agency is not run by an elected official and drew far less scrutiny.⁵ Stanford Law professor Robert Weisberg described the breakdown as “very poor communication” among police, prosecutors, and parole officers, though he called the underlying plea deal a “reasonable option” based on what was known at the time.⁷

After the crash, Boudin changed his office’s policy on parolees, directing prosecutors to petition courts directly for parole revocations rather than relying solely on the state agency.⁷

Civil Claim by the Abe Family

In June 2021, an attorney for Hanako Abe’s family filed a wrongful death claim against the City of San Francisco and the District Attorney’s Office. The claim alleged that McAlister should have been incarcerated at the time of the crash and that “serious communication issues” between the DA, police, and state parole agents had resulted in his release. The family sought monetary compensation and changes to communication protocols.¹⁷ The City Attorney’s Office said at the time that it was reviewing the claim; no resolution has been reported. Elizabeth Platt’s family has not been publicly active in the legal proceedings.¹³

1
KCRA. Family of San Francisco Woman Killed in DUI Crash Files Claim
2
ABC7 News. SF Hit-and-Run Troy McAlister Court
3
The Voice SF. Four Years After Troy McAlister Killed Hanako Abe and Elizabeth Platt, Their Families Still Wait for Justice
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KTVU. Fatal Hit-and-Run Suspect Was Free on Parole Despite Arrests
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The Guardian. Troy McAlister Case, Boudin, Criminal Justice Reform, San Francisco
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San Francisco Chronicle. Deadly SF Hit-and-Run Suspect Due in Court
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KQED. How the Troy McAlister Case Became a Flashpoint in the Drive to Recall SF DA Chesa Boudin
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The Voice SF. Tensions Rise in Two High-Profile San Francisco Cases
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ABC7 News. San Francisco Public Defender Seeks Diversion in 2020 Double Fatal Hit-and-Run Case
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San Francisco Chronicle. Troy McAlister Judge Mental Health Diversion
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San Francisco Chronicle. Troy McAlister Diversion Court Judge
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The Voice SF. Judge Denies Diversion for Hanako Abe and Elizabeth Platt Killer Troy McAlister
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The Voice SF. Public Defender Seeks Dismissal of Six-Figure Felon Troy McAlister’s Case
14
San Francisco Chronicle. SF Public Defender Moves to Recuse Brooke Jenkins
15
Mission Local. Brooke Jenkins, Don Du Bain, Troy McAlister Police Report Rap Sheet Recall Chesa Boudin
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San Francisco Chronicle. Chesa Boudin Recall
17
NBC Bay Area. Family of SF Hit-and-Run Victim Files Claim Against City