Supporters Rally for SF Filmmaker Kevin Epps, on Trial for Murder After 2016 Shooting

The trial of San Francisco filmmaker and journalist Kevin Epps, charged with murder for a 2016 shooting, continued Thursday with an emotional testimony from the daughter of the man Epps said he shot in self-defense.

The trial began Monday — years after the death of Marcus Polk at the home of Epps, his partner and their two young children in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood.

The two men knew each other: Epps’ sister-in-law is the ex-wife of Marcus Polk.

Prosecutors said they lacked sufficient evidence to charge Epps immediately after the Oct. 24, 2016, shooting, but changed course in 2019, citing new evidence.

Epps faces charges of one count of murder, with an enhancement for personal discharge of a firearm causing death, and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

On Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Schmidt questioned Melina Polk, Epps’ former niece and one of Polk’s daughters, extensively about the Epps’ home dynamic and events leading up to the Monday afternoon shooting in October 2016.

Now 26, Melina Polk said that growing up, she, her mother and her siblings were frequent visitors to the Glen Park home, often staying overnight (Melina Polk’s mother, Star Gul, is the sister of Maryam Jhan, who was then-engaged to Epps).

Polk, who was homeless at the time, would also frequently show up at the house to take a shower, listen to music or spend time with family, his daughter said. Melina Polk, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, testified that it was a generally positive atmosphere in the home, but that Epps often appeared “irritated” at Polk’s presence.

Melina Polk recalled Epps saying things like “Why does he show up here?” and complaining that her father didn’t “have any responsibilities.”

Questioning on Thursday focused heavily on an incident the night before the shooting, when Polk showed up at the Epps’ home late at night but was not let in. He returned the next day — the day of the shooting — and got into an argument with two housing authority maintenance men who had accused him of putting trash in another resident’s bin.

That led to a confrontation outside the house, culminating in Polk allegedly “barging into the house” and threatening to “air out” Epps, according to a trial brief submitted by the defense. The situation escalated, and Epps fired two shots, killing Polk.

A toxicology report by the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found that Polk’s blood contained methamphetamine and cannabis.

During a lunch break, supporters of Epps rallied on the steps of San Francisco’s Hall of Justice. They called for District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who attended the hearing, to drop the charges.

“ I think we really need to question when prosecutors decide to bring someone like Kevin Epps to trial, if they have a problem accepting that somebody with his background, with his color skin from the neighborhood that he’s from, acted in self-defense instead of malice,” said Julian Davis, a spokesperson for Epps.

Epps is a well-known San Francisco filmmaker from the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood who has made a series of films about the African American experience in the Bay Area, including the 2003 film Straight Outta Hunters Point. Recently, he has served as the executive editor of the San Francisco Bay View newspaper.

California has a “castle doctrine” law on the books, which states that people who use force intended to cause death or great bodily injury within their residence are presumed to have a reasonable fear of imminent peril to themselves or other household members when that force is used against someone who unlawfully or forcibly enters a residence.

In 2019, the San Francisco District Attorney filed charges after 3D-generated images recreating the shooting purported to show the men in a position that prosecutors said was not consistent with self-defense.

That evidence has since been withdrawn, after objections by the defense. Epps was released on bail in Aug. 2019.

Some rally attendees expressed astonishment that the case was ongoing, nearly 10 years after the incident.

“ I know that Kevin is a very honorable man,” said Carol McGruder, a longtime friend of Epps. “I don’t think that he’s just shooting and killing people for no good reason at all. It’s a tragic event, but I’m here to support him. He is a valued community member, a father and we want to get this behind us, have justice and have him be exonerated.”

At the witness stand, Melina Polk at times had to look at a transcript from a 2016 interview she gave to refresh her memory about the events leading up to and on the day of the shooting.

She was overcome with emotion as she recalled the day of the shooting. After hearing the pop of the gun from a nearby room, she walked upstairs and saw her father struggling to breathe. She said she looked away for a moment, and when she looked back, he had fallen to the ground and appeared to have stopped breathing.

The trial continues on Friday with Gul’s testimony.