A man previously convicted of killing a gay hair stylist whose homicide and robbery convictions were overturned more than a year ago is going to wait a little longer for his case to be retried. As jury selection was underway in San Francisco Superior Court Monday, defendant James Rickleffs fired his attorney and is seeking new counsel. 

The 2019 conviction of Rickleffs, 58, had been reversed in October 2023 by a California Court of Appeal three-judge panel. He'd been found guilty in the 2012 killing and robbery of Steven "Eriq" Escalon in San Francisco's Diamond Heights neighborhood. As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, a new trial was set for this summer. 

And indeed jurors had already been empaneled August 18 when Rickleffs decided to fire his private attorney, Michael Meehan,

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