OAKLAND — A key witness in the bribery case against Oakland police Detective Phong Tran has disappeared, a potential setback for prosecutors just weeks before a trial is set to begin.
In a recent court filing, Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson’s staff said a witness who claimed Tran coached her testimony in a 2016 murder trial in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars has apparently moved out of her apartment and is no longer answering prosecutors’ calls. Given the complication — and the fact that the woman’s testimony underpins the case — prosecutors want the court to compel her to appear for Tran’s trial in early March.
Tran — a veteran detective with more than a decade of experience investigating homicides in the East Bay — faces three perjury-related charges and a single count of bribery of a witness in a case that has led to a sprawling review of cases that, at one point, numbered an estimated 200.
The development raises questions about the fate of yet another criminal case against a law enforcement officer in Alameda County. In just the past five months, Jones Dickson has dismissed charges against nine law enforcement officers in three separate criminal cases — most recently tossing the manslaughter case against former San Leandro police Officer Jason Fletcher in the 2020 fatal shooting of Steven Taylor.
Each time, Jones Dickson and her staff have argued they simply didn’t have the evidence needed to bring the cases filed by her predecessors — Nancy O’Malley and Pamela Price — to trial.
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In addition, an Alameda County judge recently ordered an evidentiary hearing over claims that one of Tran’s investigations was guided by stereotypes of Black men, potentially violating a state law intended to address bias in the criminal justice system.
Adante Pointer, who represents two of the men whose murder convictions were tossed amid the burgeoning scandal, called on Jones Dickson to continue with the case, regardless of whether her central witness shows up to testify at trial.
He stressed that prosecutors often admit previous court testimony as evidence when their witnesses don’t show for court, and that such testimony is available to use in Tran’s case. He added: “We watch people proceed all the time on much thinner evidence.”
“If they have the heart to do justice by these victims, then they’ll proceed with the case,” Pointer said. “If they’re looking for an out, then perhaps this is one they’ll use as a loophole, to get out of the business of prosecuting cops.”
The clock is ticking. During a hearing Friday morning, Tran’s attorney invoked his right to face trial within 60 calendar days, and a judge set Tran’s trial for March 2. Tran, who has pleaded not guilty, has remained on leave from OPD.
The witness, Aisha Weber, claimed to have received thousands of dollars from Tran to parrot anything the detective wanted her to say at a 2016 murder trial, according to court records. She was the only alleged eyewitness, and both men on trial for the killing were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Five years later, in 2021, Weber backtracked that testimony and claimed in a sworn declaration that Tran took advantage of the fact that she was homeless and desperate for money. Her revelations prompted Alameda County prosecutors to successfully argue for the release of both men, Giovonte Douglas and Cartier Hunter.
In 2023, Weber doubled down on her story by taking the stand against the detective at his preliminary hearing — recounting a lucrative partnership between the two that netted her upwards of $30,000.
It all began when Tran asked her for a “favor” ahead of the 2016 murder trial, according to court testimony. Tran asked her to repeat his theory about the killing, the woman recalled, despite the fact that she did not recognize the two murder defendants, and that she wasn’t even at the North Oakland intersection where the killing took place.
“He said, ‘That’s OK, I’m going to tell you everything you need to know,’” Weber testified in Tran’s criminal case. “He basically was just saying like he had the right people, but he didn’t have enough evidence and he just needed me to state what he told me to state on camera.”
The money Tran gave Weber allegedly included an envelope stuffed with $5,000 in cash, which Tran gave her barely 30 minutes after she finished testifying against the two men, according to court testimony. Often, Weber said the money came in installments of “a couple hundred dollars here and there,” usually during visits to the Oakland Police Department’s headquarters.
“I kind of felt like I didn’t have a choice, because he had helped me,” Weber said of her cooperation with the detective.
“I was debriefed by Tran,” she added, in testimony that elicited a whistle from an onlooker in the courtroom gallery. “I was told where it happened. I was told the extent to which it happened. I was shown pictures of the actual crime scene. I was told dates and times. I was told what to say by officer Tran.”
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Clifford Blakely later ruled that there was “more than sufficient evidence” to send the case to trial. His only potential doubts on the case regarded the two perjury counts, which he called “more troubling” in light of criticism by Tran’s attorney.
Since then, the case has ground to a near-halt.
Later in 2023, Judge Scott Patton tossed one of the five charges against Tran, suggesting the detective’s actions more closely resembled regular police work, rather than anything nefarious. And this year, at least five court hearings aimed at setting a trial date have ended in delays or continuances.
In a court filing Friday, prosecutors said their central witness is now nowhere to be found.
Deputy District Attorney Darby Williams wrote that the last time she spoke to Weber in person was on Oct. 31, when Weber expressed plans to move someplace where she “can’t be found,” according to the filing. Weber then failed to show for a planned meeting the following week at a Starbucks — a location that Weber requested, after suggesting that prosecutors’ previous stop at her house put her in danger.
Numerous subsequent attempts to call or email Weber turned up empty, the prosecutor claimed. And Weber’s house appeared to have been emptied out when Williams returned to it Nov. 17.
“To date, Weber has refused all efforts by the District Attorney to appear in court, to willingly accept a subpoena, to communicate with district attorney investigators or deputies, and has refused to provide information as to her whereabouts or any means to facilitate communication,” Williams wrote.
Multiple attempts by this news outlet to reach Weber have been unsuccessful.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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