San Francisco man who stabbed Asian woman, 94, multiple times gets PROBATION after soft-touch judge was told he'd suffered 'trauma' and 'cried' on being told what he'd done

A San Francisco man who stabbed a 94-year-old in the street has avoided jail after being sentenced to probation and a 'behavioral and mental health treatment program.' 

Daniel Cauich stabbed Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant Anh 'Peng' Taylor multiple times in San Francisco's Lower Nob Hill neighborhood in broad daylight in June 2021. 

The senseless attack was caught on camera and sent shockwaves through the city during a period of increased attacks on Asian Americans. 

Cauich was sentenced to five years of probation and a supervision program at San Francisco Superior Court on Friday.

'I am giving you one last chance to stay out of state prison,' Judge Kay Tsenin told Cauich during the hearing, which combined another charge of burglary in a separate incident. 

Daniel Cauich stabbed a 94-year-old in the street in broad daylight in June 2021 

The senseless attack was caught on camera and sent shockwaves through the city during a period of increased attacks on Asian Americans

Cauich has been enrolled on the state's Intensive Supervision Court program intended for high-risk probationers as an alternative to state prison. 

As part of the program, he will be under intensive supervision in a facility with limited freedom until the course is completed. 

His defense attorney Lisa DewBerry successfully argued that her client had underlying mental health issues and trauma that contributed to the attack.

'When we were able to get through to him to tell him what he had done, the man cried,' DewBerry told The San Francisco Standard.

'He couldn't believe he did such a thing to her.' 

Cauich was run over by a car and homeless at the time of the stabbing DewBerry claimed. 

Court records, including a neuropsychology report, stated that said Cauich had experienced trauma and brain injuries, leading to mental health issues and a substance-use disorder. 

Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Maffei opposed the sentence, arguing that Cauich is a danger to the community and should serve 12 years in prison for the stabbing. 

Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant Anh 'Peng' Taylor was stabbed multiple times in San Francisco's Lower Nob Hill neighborhood

Taylor's attacker was sentenced to five years of probation and a supervision program at San Francisco Superior Court

Taylor survived the attack and is doing well at the age of 97, her family confirmed

'[The stabbing] was senseless and horrifying and suggests a quick willingness to do harm to vulnerable people within our community' Maffei wrote in a document protesting the sentence. 

Taylor survived the attack and is doing well at the age of 97, her family confirmed. 

'After the attack, we moved her to an assisted living home,' her daughter Vivianne Taylor told the Standard.

Adding: 'She is well-recovered and doing fine now.'