Phong Tran: Oakland, California; Purchasing perjury? Police officer accused of bribing the star witness faces five felony charges - and allegedly made similar overtures to another witness, MSN (Reporter Jakob Rogers) reports..."Prosecutors allege Tran paid an unhoused mother of two children, Aisha Weber, thousands of dollars for coming forward nearly two years to testify that she saw the killing and knew both the gunman and getaway driver. That included a $5,000 payment cash payment Tran allegedly made barely a half-hour after Weber finished testifying at the 2016 murder trial, according to testimony last week. Two men, Giovonte Douglas, 31, and Cartier Hunter, 34, were arrested and convicted in the killing. However, prosecutors quietly dismissed their charges after Weber recanted her statement in 2021. They have since been released from prison and have filed a lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: What do police informants have to do with forensic science? (I'm glad you asked). Investigative  Reporter Pamela Colloff give us  a clue when she writes - at the link below -  "I’ve wanted to write about jailhouse informants for a long time because they often appear in troubled cases in which the other evidence is weak." That's my experience as  will as a criminal lawyer and an observer of criminal justice. Given the reality that jurors - thanks to the CSI effect - are becoming more and more insistent on the need for there to be forensic evidence, it is becoming more and more common for police to rely on shady tactics such as use of police snitches, staging lineups, coercing, inducing, or creating false confessions out of thin air, procuring false eyewitness testimony or concealing exculpatory evidence."

Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The dueling narratives came after an investigator with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office raised the possibility Tuesday — for the first time in open court — that Tran had made a habit of convincing people to falsely testify at murder trials, in order to obtain convictions on cases he investigated. The investigator, Andrew Koltuniak, testified that Tran twice offered money in exchange for false testimony — even offering to “be a little ATM” for a strung-out drug user. Neither claim was specifically related to any of the five felony charges against Tran. Rather, they were allowed under an evidentiary motion by prosecutors that was approved by Judge Blakely. The case against Tran has spurred a massive re-examination of criminal cases handled by the longtime Oakland homicide detective. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office plans to review at least 125 cases that Tran investigated. And the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office has already identified three other homicide cases where Tran’s ethics have raised concerns."

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STORY: "‘Help me out with this’: Woman claims Oakland officer Phong Tran used jailed son as bargaining chip," by Reporter Jakob Rogers, published MSN on June 21, 2023.

GIST: " An Oakland police officer accused of bribing the star witness in a 2011 murder case allegedly made similar overtures to another witness —

The alleged bid by Phong Tran, 45, to “clean things up” in the North Oakland homicide case highlighted the final day of testimony in the officer’s preliminary hearing, which began on Friday. 

Tran faces five felony charges, including two counts of perjury, as well as charges of bribery of a witness, attempted bribery of a witness and subornation of perjury under oath.

Closing arguments are expected Wednesday, after which Alameda County Superior Court Judge Clifford Blakely is expected to issue a ruling on whether the case will proceed to trial. Tran has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $95,000 bail.

All of the charges center on Tran’s work investigating the 2011 killing of Charles Butler Jr., 23, who was gunned down while arguing over a parking spot near his North Oakland home.

Prosecutors allege Tran paid an unhoused mother of two children, Aisha Weber, thousands of dollars for coming forward nearly two years to testify that she saw the killing and knew both the gunman and getaway driver. That included a $5,000 payment cash payment Tran allegedly made barely a half-hour after Weber finished testifying at the 2016 murder trial, according to testimony last week.

Two men, Giovonte Douglas, 31, and Cartier Hunter, 34, were arrested and convicted in the killing. However, prosecutors quietly dismissed their charges after Weber recanted her statement in 2021. They have since been released from prison and have filed a lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department.

Prosecutors on Tuesday zeroed in on the lone felony charge not related to Weber’s testimony — a single count of attempted bribery of a witness, involving a woman who saw one man fleeing the scene of Butler’s death.

Theresa Anderson Downs testified Tuesday that Tran twice appeared at her Oakland house asking if she could help identify Butler’s killers. The first time, Anderson Downs recalled Tran saying he wanted to touch base and “kind of clean things up” with her initial, vague statement to police.

When Tran returned later in 2012, Anderson Downs reiterated that she didn’t clearly see the fleeing man’s face. That’s when Tran replied: “If you could help me out with this, I’d appreciate it. I understand your son is in custody and he has a robbery (case). We could help you with that, if you help me with this. Because we can overlook a robbery, but we cannot overlook a murder,” according to Anderson Downs’ testimony.

She added that Tran’s intent appeared clear as he displayed a picture of the suspect: “I feel like he wanted me to say that the person in the photo was the person that I saw.”

Still, Anderson Downs refused to help.

“It made me feel really angry, because I’m a mother, and my son was already in jail,” she testified. “It told him that’s another mother’s son — that I cannot send another mother’s son to jail over something I did not see.”

Tran’s attorney, Andrew Ganz, questioned why Anderson Downs never came forward to report the interaction when it happened more than a decade ago. She said she didn’t know who to report that information to.

Later in the day, Ganz declined to call any witnesses of his own — opting instead to show a video of Weber’s interview with Tran after she came forward claiming to know Butler’s killers.

Seated in a small room inside the Oakland Police Department’s downtown headquarters, Weber offered a meticulous recounting of the killing — providing a level of detail that, Ganz has suggested, would be difficult for anyone who had just been fed the information moments earlier.

In the video of Weber, Tran specifically asked the woman: “Has anybody offered you anything for your assistance? Anybody paying you anything?”

“No, none,” Weber answered.

The dueling narratives came after an investigator with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office raised the possibility Tuesday — for the first time in open court — that Tran had made a habit of convincing people to falsely testify at murder trials, in order to obtain convictions on cases he investigated.

The investigator, Andrew Koltuniak, testified that Tran twice offered money in exchange for false testimony — even offering to “be a little ATM” for a strung-out drug user. Neither claim was specifically related to any of the five felony charges against Tran. Rather, they were allowed under an evidentiary motion by prosecutors that was approved by Judge Blakely.

The case against Tran has spurred a massive re-examination of criminal cases handled by the longtime Oakland homicide detective. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office plans to review at least 125 cases that Tran investigated. And the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office has already identified three other homicide cases where Tran’s ethics have raised concerns.

A video aired in court Tuesday offered a window into Tran’s handling of yet another homicide case, this time in 2017."

The entire story can be read at:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/help-me-out-with-this-woman-claims-oakland-officer-phong-tran-used-jailed-son-as-bargaining-chip/ar-AA1cQJNm

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929

FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.

Lawyer Radha Natarajan;

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-1234880143/

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