By Ari Burack

June 20, 2008

A man charged in the death of a Haight-Ashbury neighborhood community activist during a bondage session at the man’s home in 2007 pleaded not guilty to murder today in San Francisco Superior Court and is scheduled to stand trial in October.

According to prosecutors, Joseph Konopka, 65, hired Terry Frazier for sex and died during a sadomasochism session at Konopka’s Ashbury Street home on the evening of July 11, 2007.

Frazier, 41, is charged with murder, burglary and robbery, having also been alleged to have made off with some of Konopka’s belongings, according to prosecutors. He also has a separate narcotics case pending in San Francisco.

Frazier pleaded not guilty to all the charges in the Konopka case today and a trial was set for Oct. 24.

Konopka was the former head of the community group Residents Against Druggies, seeking to prevent drug-related crime in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, and also once ran for city supervisor.