XPost: alt.fraud, ba.politics, alt.politics.republicans   
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   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2026/02/16/judges-in-san-francisco-are-really   
   -something-special-n3811956   
      
   Last March a 40-year-old advertising executive and his entire family   
   were killed in San Francisco while waiting at a bus stop.   
      
   Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, a globally lauded creative director who was   
   behind groundbreaking advertising for brands including Apple, Bodyform   
   and Ikea, died on March 16 at the age of 40.   
      
   Oliveira, a native of Brazil, died along with his partner, Matilde Ramos   
   Pinto, and their two children, Joaquim and Cauê, after a crash in the   
   West Portal neighborhood of San Francisco. The family were waiting at a   
   bus stop when a car struck the shelter.   
      
   The details of the story are even more tragic than they sound. It was   
   the couple's anniversary and they were waiting for the bus to take their   
   young children to the zoo for the day.   
      
   Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, 40, and Joaquin Ramos Pinto de Oliveira, 1,   
   were killed on impact when the SUV struck the transit shelter where they   
   were waiting in front of the West Portal Branch Library. Matilde Moncada   
   Ramos Pinto, 38, and infant Cauê Ramos Pinto de Oliveira were   
   hospitalized and died in the days after.   
      
   The person responsible for killing this entire family is Mary Fong Lau,   
   a 78-year-old woman who was driving her Mercedes the wrong way on the   
   street and then, according to an accident report, confused the gas pedal   
   and the break and accelerated into the bus stop. However that wasn't the   
   story she told investigators later on.   
      
   The woman accused of striking and killing a family of four in San   
   Francisco’s West Portal neighborhood in March told an eyewitness   
   immediately after the crash that she had tried to brake but   
   “accidentally moved (her) foot onto the gas pedal,” according to court   
   records...   
      
   In the aftermath of the crash, Lau, 78, told investigators she was   
   delivering food to her brother when she claimed “there was a malfunction   
   with the vehicle which caused the vehicle to suddenly accelerate at a   
   high rate of speed,” according to the report. Lau also claimed “she   
   tried to brake and put the car into park but was unsuccessful in slowing   
   the vehicle down.”...   
      
   Lau’s SUV was allegedly traveling 44 mph when she first appeared on   
   video and reached a speed of 72 mph when it struck the library wall and   
   adjacent bus shelter, according to investigators who reviewed video   
   surveillance footage of the crash from multiple angles. Lau reportedly   
   told eyewitnesses that she reached for the parking brake and   
   “accidentally moved foot onto the gas pedal.”   
      
   Her Mercedes had been regularly serviced and the service records showed   
   no evidence of any problem that would cause her SUV to accelerate on its   
   own. She was charged with four felony counts of manslaughter and pleaded   
   not guilty. Her attorney sought to have those counts reduced to   
   misdemeanors on the grounds that she wasn't responsible for the speeding   
   car she was driving. A couple weeks ago, the judge refused to lessen the   
   charges.   
      
   Judge Bruce Chan denied a motion filed by an attorney for Mary Fong Lau,   
   80, who is accused of plowing into a couple and their young children   
   while they waited for a bus to the San Francisco Zoo on March 16,   
   2024...   
      
   Seth Morris, the attorney for Lau, argued that the prosecution would   
   have a challenging time convicting Lau of the felony version of gross   
   vehicular manslaughter — a crime known as a “wobbler” in California   
   courts that can either be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor, he   
   said...   
      
   But his main argument to the judge was that Lau did not behave with   
   felony gross negligence because she did not intentionally speed.   
   Instead, he said, the car suddenly accelerated.   
      
   “Something happened in the street that at this point, is unexplained,”   
   he said. “What’s hard about this case is that sometimes things are   
   unexplained and tragic.”   
      
   Again, there's no evidence that there was anything wrong with the   
   Mercedes. Plus, as mentioned above, Lau initially admitted that she'd   
   accidentally jammed on the accelerator. So the best explanation here, in   
   my opinion, is that she panicked and then later lied to investigators   
   about there being something wrong with her car. Judge Chan made the   
   right call in refusing to lessen the charges.   
      
   Unfortunately, this is San Francisco so despite initially doing the   
   right thing, Judge Chan has now indicated that Lau will probably serve   
   zero time in jail for killing four people including two young children.   
   Lau changed her plea to "no contest," meaning she won't even admit   
   guilt, and she's not even going to get community service.   
      
   After it was clear Lau was considering changing her plea, San Francisco   
   Superior Court Judge Bruce Chan said that the loss of life was   
   incomprehensible.   
      
   Chan said his duty was to balance the deaths with the other factors of   
   the case, including Lau’s age, her lack of criminal history and her   
   remorse, as well as the fact that her own husband had died in a car   
   accident early on in their marriage.   
      
   He said that in the hospital after the crash, Lau tearfully told medical   
   staff she wished she could trade places with the family.   
      
   “Mrs. Lau is going to spend the rest of her days living with the   
   knowledge of the harm she has caused to others,” he said. Chan indicated   
   his sentence, which will be confirmed at a subsequent hearing, would   
   likely be two to three years of probation, during which time Lau would   
   be prohibited from driving.   
      
   I'm not a judge, obviously, but I would think that Lau's sad story about   
   wanting to change places with the victims is somewhat offset by her   
   alleged efforts to hide her assets from a lawsuit brought by the   
   victim's family.   
      
   In July 2024, the surviving parents of Cardoso de Oliveira and Ramos   
   Pinto filed a wrongful death civil suit against Lau. In May 2025, the   
   relatives filed another civil lawsuit, this time asking a judge to void   
   alleged financial transfers that Lau made after the first civil lawsuit   
   was filed.   
      
   Survivors of the slain family accused Lau of transferring her ownership   
   interest in several properties to new limited liability companies and   
   selling properties to third-parties, including her son-in-law,   
   transferring millions of dollars to avoid potential financial penalties   
   from the civil suit.   
      
   If she really was sorry she wouldn't a) lie to investigators about the   
   cause and b) sell her assets to family to shield them from a civil suit.   
   That doesn't sound to me like someone who is going to spend the rest of   
   her days feeling bad about the harm she has caused. It sounds like   
   someone figuratively getting away with murder.   
      
   Lau is now 80 so the argument in her defense is that almost any jail   
   sentence at her age could be a life sentence. She should be facing about   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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