Feb. 13, 2026
Bail reform faces another supreme test
A homeless man spent six months in jail on a burger-joint theft charge he couldn't afford to bail out of -- and his case is now forcing the California Supreme Court to decide whether setting unaffordable bail is just pretrial detention by another name.
On Jan. 27, 2021, Gerald John Kowalczyk, a 55-year-old homeless man, entered a Five Guys restaurant in Burlingame and ordered a cheeseburger. To pay, he tried to use credit cards others had lost at gas stations. One of them worked, but Kowalczyk told the manager he'd changed his mind, asked that the charge be refunded and left without the meal or the credit cards.
Arrested and accused of three felony counts of identity theft and a misdemeanor count of petty theft, Kowalczyk w...
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