A San Francisco jury today convicted a 24-year-old woman of vandalism but acquitted her of hate crimes charges in connection with a series of allegedly racist and anarchist graffiti spray-painted throughout the city earlier this year.
Katherine Dunbar was arrested on May 18 after she was spotted tagging graffiti on portable toilets during the Bay to Breakers race.
Police and prosecutors said she had in previous weeks and months also vandalized locations such as the War Memorial building, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and Grace Cathedral–as well as a city vehicle–with swastikas, the phrase “kkkatie” and anarchic symbols and messages.
Dunbar had also been accused of assaulting a man who tried to report the Bay to Breakers vandalism. Police said she made racial remarks to the man, who is black, and threatened him with false claims of rape if he reported the incidents.
However, the witness failed to appear at trial, and prosecutors dismissed a felony charge of dissuading a witness.
Dunbar was convicted of one vandalism-related felony and 10 misdemeanors, and she was acquitted of two other misdemeanors. The jury hung on a felony terrorism charge, according to the offices of the district attorney and public defender.
She faces a sentence ranging from probation to three years in prison, according to the district attorney’s office.
Photo from KKKatie’s B2B rampage: Andrew Dalton
Ari Burack, Bay City News
