A San Francisco woman has been accused of threatening to kill two drag performers outside a gay South of Market nightclub while wielding a knife and yelling anti-gay and anti-trans slurs.
Pearly Martin, 29, pleaded not guilty April 27 to two felony counts of making criminal threats, and misdemeanor charges of exhibiting a deadly weapon and vandalism of less than $400. Each of the felony counts carries an allegation of a hate crime based on the victims' gender and an allegation of use of a deadly weapon.
Rakesh Modi, a co-owner of Club OMG, at 43 Sixth Street, said in a Facebook exchange that he heard Martin make comments like "I have a real pussy and you don't," and "I will kill you faggots" to "some drag queens who were outside leaving the club." Bar staff called police. Court records say the incident occurred Monday, April 25.
At Martin's arraignment last Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court, Assistant District Attorney Brenna Kantrovitz said Martin had been "brandishing a knife," and in the squad car, she had screamed "multiple curse words" and "kicked out a window."
Martin had also told people that her boyfriend had a gun and would kill them, Kantrovitz said.
As he tried unsuccessfully to get Martin released, Deputy Public Defender Chesa Boudin acknowledged that she "is charged with offenses that on the face of it are quite distressing," but he said "a large group of people" had been involved in the incident, and it wasn't clear to him whether Martin was responsible for any or all of what happened.
There had been "at least three women yelling epithets," yet Martin had been the only person arrested, Boudin said. He also said the allegations involved "simply verbal threats," and there hadn't been any physical violence. No weapon had been found on Martin, he said.
Kantrovitz told the court witnesses said Martin had had a knife, and that the victims had identified her as the suspect. She also said that one of the people at the scene had been Martin's mother, who had tried to get her daughter to stop.
Boudin, who said Martin had a court order to pick up her 3-year-old son in a couple days, said that in the last five years, she'd had one felony conviction and one bench warrant. She doesn't have "a serious criminal history," he said, and she has "no history of violent conduct."
Martin's living in "stable" transitional housing in the city's Bayview district, he said.
Kantrovitz said Martin has three felony convictions related to selling narcotics.
In granting Kantrovitz's request that Martin's bail be set at $250,000, Judge Charles Crompton said Martin's history didn't concern him "as much as the charges in the current case" and "the level of violence."
Martin, who didn't comment as she appeared in court Wednesday in an orange sweatshirt and pants, is in custody at San Francisco County Jail #2 on $300,000 bail, according to the sheriff's department. She initially agreed to an interview request made through a deputy Friday, but minutes later changed her mind and declined to speak to a reporter.
Her next court date is May 10.