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San Francisco prosecutor taps friend with no law experience for high-paying job as violent crime runs rampant
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is being accused of nepotism after she quietly promoted a close friend to her chief of staff despite her being trained as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner with no legal experience and holding down a second job.
Monifa Willis, who also works as an assistant nursing professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing, where she reportedly earns a $100,000 salary, was initially hired by the DA’s office in 2022 to run the agency’s Victim’s Services Division. She took on her new position in March.
The appointment has raised questions about the hiring of a friend for a prominent role in a large office. The position pays around $289,000 annually.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Jenkins said she was proud to have Willis as her chief of staff and said her hiring was not a conflict of interest. It’s the first time in the office’s history that the role has been filled by someone who isn’t a lawyer.
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San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“As a Board Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Monifa brings an unparalleled wealth of experience and expertise in providing trauma-informed care to victims of crime and people impacted by the criminal justice system,” Jenkins said. “In her role as Chief of Staff, Monifa oversees the Victim Services Division, the policy team, grants, special projects and programming.”
Willis will also launch new programs and initiatives focused on crime prevention and intervention efforts, Jenkins said.
Willis became a registered nurse and, after earning her master’s degree at UCSF in 2014, became certified as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, according to her biography on the UCSF website.
Ryan Khojasteh, a former prosecutor who is running to unseat Jenkins, his former boss, said Willis’ initial hiring was nepotism, compounded by the fact that she doesn’t have a law license.
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Monifa Willis, chief of staff at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, was promoted by DA Brooke Jenkins, a close friend. (KTVU)
“She is not qualified to be the number two position in a criminal law office,” he told Fox News Digital. “It’s actually baffling to me that Jenkins thought this was even remotely a good idea.”
Jenkins’ office said the chief of staff position is exempt and does not require a law degree, and that Willis meets the qualifications for that job.
The chief of staff position requires four years of managerial experience in a supervisory role in a legal, legislative or clinical social environment, according to the job qualifications. In addition, the chief of staff doesn’t oversee the prosecutors, which is done by the chief assistant district attorney.
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Monifa Willis, a nursing professor, was promoted as chief of staff by San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, which has prompted allegations of nepotism. (KTVU; Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
Jenkins and Willis have known each other since high school, where they were track-and-field teammates, according to a 2022 Mission Local report. The pair have gone to dinner, rented a car, attended a football game and visited a waxing salon together, according to public Venmo accounts dating back to 2021, The San Francisco Standard reported.
Since becoming Jenkins’ chief of staff, Willis has continued to work as a professor at UCSF.
Employees in the DA’s office are not allowed to engage in any outside activity that would take time away from their duties at work on a regular basis, according to a DA policy. At the time of her appointment as chief of the Victim Services Division, Willis filed a secondary employment form, the DA’s office told Fox News Digital.
The office verbally approved the request for her second job.
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District Attorney Brooke Jenkins speaks during the launch of Domestic Violence Awareness Month at the City Hall of San Francisco on Oct. 24, 2023. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“She agreed to change her course time but did not immediately file an updated secondary employment form. She filed an updated secondary employment form on 7/25/2024, as soon as this oversight came to her attention,” the DA’s office said.
Willis’ secondary employment with UCSF isn’t an issue, the agency said.
“She teaches one class on Wednesday evenings during UCSF’s Fall, Winter and Spring quarters,” the DA’s office said. “She does not teach in the Summer. Her teaching responsibilities do not impact her ability to perform any of her job duties at the District Attorney’s Office.”
Lexa Grayner worked under Jenkins before moving across the Bay Area to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
“This is just one more incident that validates what we’ve known all along about Brooke Jenkins,” Grayner told Fox News Digital. “She is not someone we can trust. She is making decisions for her own political career at the jeopardy of criminal justice in San Francisco.”
Jenkins’ office did not respond to requests for comment about Grayner’s departure.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins speaks at a news conference at the San Francisco Police Department, as Mayor London Breed and Police Chief William Scott listen, on April 13, 2023. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Willis’ part-time job as a college professor also raised questions about her accessibility. Fox News Digital has reached out to Willis.
The San Francisco Ethics Commission, which is responsible for the administration and enforcement of ethics standards across city government agencies, declined to comment on the matter.
Jenkins was appointed as DA, a position once held by Vice President Kamala Harris, by San Francisco Mayor London Breed in 2022 following the successful recall of Chesa Boudin, for whom she actively campaigned. She was elected in her own right months later.
Upon taking office, Jenkins purged several staffers, including Khojasteh. During Jenkins’ tenure, multiple people have departed the DA’s office, which has been destabilized, Khojasteh said.
The DA’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
“What Jenkins has done is reward her friends and her allies at the expense of a well-run and functioning office,” Khojasteh said.
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MISSOULA, Mt. — Karsen Beitz arrived at Montana with no scholarship offers, one remaining walk-on spot and no guarantee that his track career would last.
Now, the former Sentinel High School standout is one of the fastest athletes in Montana history.
Beitz, a Missoula native and junior sprinter for the Grizzlies, has turned an unlikely college opportunity into a record-setting career. He owns Montana’s 100-meter and 200-meter program records and enters next week’s Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships as one of the top sprinters in the league.
Coming out of high school, Beitz was a football and track athlete without a Division I offer.
“I was upset about it,” Beitz said. “But at the same time, I was fine with just going to college and living a normal college life.”
That changed after conversations between Sentinel coach Dylan Reynolds and Montana coach Doug Fraley.
“You may not think he’s a D-I prospect based on his times,” Reynolds told Fraley, “but I’m just telling you, if he gets in the right program, he’s going to be a D-I runner.”
Fraley had one walk-on spot left on his roster. He brought Beitz into his office, talked with him and decided to take a chance.
“I liked him. We had a good conversation, so I decided to give him the last walk-on spot,” Fraley said. “I’m sure glad I did.”
Beitz became a Division I athlete in his hometown, but his first goal was modest. He wanted to prove he belonged and earn a scholarship.
He did that quickly.
As a freshman, Beitz placed at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships and helped Montana’s 4×100-meter relay reach the podium with a school-record performance.
“There was no doubt he earned that scholarship,” Fraley said.
Beitz continued to climb in 2025. He placed second in the 200 meters at the Big Sky indoor meet, but a hamstring injury kept him out of the outdoor championships.
“It sucked to deal with,” Beitz said. “But I’m young and still had two years left, so I shifted my mindset to how I could come out these next two years.”
He has not looked back.
Beitz won the 200 meters at the 2026 Big Sky indoor championships, the first individual conference title of his track career. His time of 21.09 seconds edged Idaho State’s Alex Conner by one-hundredth of a second.
“I think the best part about it was seeing how happy Doug was,” Beitz said. “He was jumping up and down, gave me a big hug. After last year, I knew what I was capable of, so to go out there and do it was amazing.”
Then came the outdoor season.
In April, Beitz broke Montana’s 58-year-old 200-meter record, running 20.55 seconds at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate in Long Beach, California. The previous record had stood since 1968.
Two weeks later, he added the school’s wind-legal 100-meter record, running 10.25 seconds at the Bengal Invitational in Pocatello, Idaho. Which broke a 44-year-old program record and gave Beitz both sprint marks.
“He’s a really competitive guy, and he wants to be the best in the Big Sky,” Fraley said.
The records have not left Beitz satisfied. They have made him hungrier.
“You have all these goals and numbers in your mind,” Beitz said. “Then once you hit those numbers, you’re not satisfied. There’s just more numbers to chase.”
The next chase begins at the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships, scheduled for May 13-16 in Portland, Oregon.
After college, Beitz hopes to follow his mother’s footsteps and become a pharmacist. Maybe even the world’s fastest pharmacist.
“If I’m running around the hospital talking to doctors,” Beitz said, “I’ll do it pretty fast.”
From a walk-on few people noticed to a conference champion and school-record holder, Beitz has become Montana’s fastest man — and he is not done running.
Alex LaRosa hit for a .262 batting average in 50 plate appearances for the Bishop Gorman baseball team through its 32 games played entering Thursday.
But with a chance for the Gaels to punch their ticket to the Class 5A state tournament, LaRosa came up with the biggest swing of his season.
LaRosa hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning and broke a tie game, which proved to be the deciding run in Gorman’s 8-4 win over Centennial on Thursday night at Durango High in a 5A Southern Region winners bracket final.
The Gaels (28-6) have qualified for the 5A state tournament, which begins May 14 at Las Vegas High. The Gaels also advance to Saturday’s 5A Southern Region title game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Durango.
“My teammates, they just push me to be better in everything to do,” LaRosa said. “I know if I get on, they’re going to to get the job done and score me. My job, hitting in the bottom of the lineup is making sure I get on base anyway I can. I just put a good swing on the ball and it got out.”
Centennial falls to the losers bracket final and will play either Arbor View or Palo Verde at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Durango to determine Gorman’s opponent for Saturday and the South’s second spot in the state tournament. Arbor View and Palo Verde play in an earlier elimination at 4 p.m. Friday at Durango to determine Centennial’s opponent.
”It feels good, we fell short the last couple of years (of reaching the state tournament),” LaRosa said. “It just feels good to finall be in it and hopefully we keep going and win it.”
LaRosa’s blast was much needed after a disastrous bottom of the fifth inning for Gorman. The Gaels led 4-0, but Centennial (25-10) cut into the deficit when Jaxon Burr singled which scored Chase Hurley, who led the inning off with a triple.
Then Jake Turner hit a fly ball to left-center field, and as Gorman center fielder DeMari Hall and Logan Grubbs dived for the ball, they collided and the ball went all the way to the wall for a two-run, inside-the-park home run.
Four batters later, Gorman catcher Austin Argenta threw to first base to pick off runner Trevor Henson, but Argenta’s throw was wild and sailed into left field, scoring Kane Barber from second, tying the game.
“I had just given a speech right before we went out to hit that we were good, we weren’t losing this game,” LaRosa said. “We’re still in this game and the dugout went crazy. We just exploded after that.”
LaRosa, who finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored, followed up with his home run in the top of the sixth, which hit the top of the left field fence. That caused a brief discussion between the three umpires before they confirmed it was a home run.
“I was just looking for a fastball to drive into the gap so my teammates could drive me in, but I got lucky, back spun it and it got out of here,” LaRosa said. “At first, I thought it was gone and then I looked up and the ball bounced back in the field.
“Then the (umpire) told me it was a home run and I kind of blacked out. It was a surreal feeling.”
Grubbs added an RBI single in the top of the seventh for Gorman. Chase Wilk was 2-for-4 with a home run in the second, a run scored during a three-run Gorman fourth inning and an RBI on a ground out in the seventh.
Justin Rodrigues had a two-run double in the fourth capped off the fourth inning for Gorman, which put the Gaels ahead 4-0. Rodriguez went 2-for-4 and recorded the final three outs on the mound for the Gaels.
Hurley and Burr each had two hits and a run scored for Centennial.
“It feels good, just returning to a national powerhouse that we were,” LaRosa said. “It’s the standard to be in the state tournament every year and compete for that state championship. So it feels good to bring the culture back to Gorman.”
Other 5A baseball results
No. 2S Arbor View 11, No. 2M Faith Lutheran 3: At Durango, Devin Martin’s two-run home run capped off an eight-run fourth inning for Arbor View, which helped the Aggies (30-7) roll past Faith Lutheran (16-15) in a 5A Southern Region elimination game.
In the fourth inning against Faith Lutheran, the Aggies scored twice on bases loaded walk, a wild pitch, a two-run single from Rhett Bryce and an RBI single by Angelo Ugarte before Martin hit his home run.
Martin finished with three RBIs and Ugarte added two RBIs. Rookie Shepard and Kingston Kela each recorded an RBI for Faith Lutheran.
No. 3M Palo Verde 7, No. 2D Desert Oasis 5: At Durango, Stone Amsden’s grand slam highlighted a seven-run seventh inning to give Palo Verde the lead, and the Panthers (26-8) held on to beat Desert Oasis (26-8-1) in an elimination game.
Desert Oasis, the Desert League’s No. 2 seed, led 4-0 entering the seventh. Owen Anderson and Matthew Simmler each had an RBI single, and Kyle Johnson scored in a wild pitch before Amsden’s homer put the Panthers, the Mountain League’s No. 3 seed ahead.
Amsden finished 2-for-4 for Palo Verde. The Panthers had just six hits.
Lincoln Guillermo was 2-for-4 with a home run for Desert Oasis, and Brody Griffith was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Landon O’Dell had an RBI single for the Diamondbacks and Aidan Smith added an RBI and a run scored.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
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