Suspect In Muni Stabbings To Be Arraigned Wednesday

A man accused in five separate stabbings in San Francisco last year, including three on Muni vehicles, has been indicted by a criminal grand jury and will be arraigned in San Francisco Superior Court Wednesday morning, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Bobby Brown, a 30-year-old homeless man arrested Dec. 1, was indicted on four counts of attempted murder, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon, five counts of battery with seriously bodily injury and three counts of battery on a transit passenger, district attorney spokesman Brian Buckelew said.

He said the district attorney's office sought the indictment to "protect the victims and keep this case moving." The indictment bypasses a preliminary hearing in the case.

The grand jury issued its indictment Thursday, after hearing testimony by approximately 35 witnesses over five days, Buckelew said.

Brown is accused of stabbing a 41-year-old woman in the arm on a Muni train May 12; knifing an 11-year-old boy in the stomach on a Muni bus Sept. 1; stabbing two women who were walking in the Tenderloin on Nov. 14 and Nov. 26; and stabbing a 24-year-old woman twice with a corkscrew on a Muni train Nov. 30.

Police have said the stabbings were all random and unprovoked. All five victims survived, though the boy nearly bled to death.

A court-appointed doctor found Brown mentally fit to stand trial in January and his defense attorney later stipulated to the conclusion, Buckelew said.

Brown, who remains in custody on $5 million bail, is scheduled to be arraigned in San Francisco Superior Court at 9 a.m. Wednesday.