An Oakland police homicide detective facing perjury and bribery charges says former Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price may have prosecuted him because he is Asian. Phong Tran's attorney, Andrew Ganz, filed a Racial Justice Act motion asking a judge to order the DA's office to hand over records, The Oaklandside reports.
Why it matters: The motion could push the long-delayed trial into next year, prosecutors argue.
The case
Price's office charged Tran in April 2023, two months after she took office. Prosecutors allege he paid a witness, Aisha Weber, before she testified in a 2016 murder trial and hid that relationship on the stand.
Weber recanted in 2021, and the two men convicted in that 2011 shooting case were freed in 2022.
Tran has pleaded not guilty.
The new motion
The motion was presented at a closed hearing on Oct. 2. Judge Scott Patton sealed it, so most details are not public.
Deputy DA Darby Williams, who now prosecutes the case, quoted parts of it in a filing. The DA's office, now led by Ursula Jones Dickson, declined to comment. Ganz did not respond to The Oaklandside.
Years of delays
The case has dragged on through Price's 2024 recall and a change in leadership at the DA's office. In March, prosecutors said they planned to drop three of four remaining charges, then put that move on hold, The Berkeley Scanner reported.
What's next
Judge Patton will decide whether Tran's claims meet the bar to order the DA's office to turn over data and records.