A Man Thought An Acquaintance Stole His 'Dope.' He Then Stabbed Him To Death: DA

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A man who San Francisco prosecutors say stabbed two acquaintances, killing one, in 2023 has been found guilty of murder.

A jury convicted Dennis Duree, 41, of first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Brandon Mitchell on Dec. 28, 2023, along Mission Street, according to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.

The jury also found Duree guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and found the allegation that the 41-year-old personally used a deadly weapon in the commission of the murder true, prosecutors said.

“I would like to thank the jury for holding Mr. Duree accountable for taking Mr. Mitchell’s life and carrying out extreme violence against his companion,” Assistant District Attorney Ryan King said in a statement Friday. “Mr. Mitchell will be forever loved and remembered by his friends and family.”

Prosecutors say Duree had been roaming around the 1300 block of Mission Street when Mitchell and a woman arrived to set up an encampment on the sidewalk.

Duree, who knew Mitchell and the woman, joined them on a mattress they had set up on the sidewalk, prosecutors said.

Duree began smoking "dope" while on the mattress and dozing off, prosecutors said.

Each time he'd fall asleep, Duree would drop his drugs and then accuse Mitchell and the woman of taking them from him, prosecutors said.

At some point, Duree got up from the mattress and walked toward a nearby alley where he spoke with an "unidentified suspect," prosecutors said.

Duree then returned to Mission Street, where he stabbed Mitchell and the woman, prosecutors said.

“This verdict delivers justice to the surviving victim and to the friends and family of the victim who was tragically killed," San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement. There is no place for violence in our city, and my office will continue to do everything we can to make our city safer for all of our residents.”

Duree is due back in court on Jan 29, 2026, for sentencing, prosecutors said.