All photos: Matt Ghali for the Appeal



 Suspected suspected Muni stabber Bobby Brown was ordered held on $5 million bail today after pleading “not guilty” in San Francisco Superior Court.

As we noted earlier, Brown is facing four counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, six counts of battery and one count of attempted robbery in four separate stabbing cases. This morning, the DA’s office also said Brown is a “person of interest” in two other stabbings, which could eventually increase the attacks he’s accused of to six. The motives in these stabbings remains unclear.

Brown spoke little at his initial court appearance this morning, other than to say, “No, I cannot,” in response to a question from Judge Donna Alyson Little about whether he could afford his own attorney.

The Public Defender’s Office, however, declined to take the case due to “budgetary constraints,” Public Defender Kleigh Hathaway said.

The court then appointed private attorney V. Roy Lefcourt (he’s the grey haired guy in the photoset above), who asked to postpone Brown’s arraignment until Dec. 11 so that he could review the evidence in the case.

Little agreed to a request from the district attorney’s office to set Brown’s bail at $5 million.

Lefcourt did not contest the bail, saying outside the courtroom later that a lower amount “wouldn’t have made any difference.” He said that in his initial conversation with Brown today, Brown denied responsibility for the crimes.

“He just said, ‘I’m not guilty,'” Lefcourt said. He will later enter a plea as such, Lefcourt added.

Lefcourt said some of the suspect descriptions from the four stabbings do not match Brown and indicated that any discrepancies could be an important aspect of Brown’s defense.

Lefcourt said Brown had been homeless for “an extended period of time” and described him today as “overwhelmed” and “in shock.” He also noted that Brown has been under medical care for unspecified reasons.

Bay City News and Appeal Photographer Matt Ghali contributed significantly to this report

the author

Eve Batey is the editor and publisher of the San Francisco Appeal. She used to be the San Francisco Chronicle's Deputy Managing Editor for Online, and started at the Chronicle as their blogging and interactive editor. Before that, she was a co-founding writer and the lead editor of SFist. She's been in the city since 1997, presently living in the Outer Sunset with her husband, cat, and dog. You can reach Eve at eve@sfappeal.com.

Please make sure your comment adheres to our comment policy. If it doesn't, it may be deleted. Repeat violations may cause us to revoke your commenting privileges. No one wants that!