Phong Tran case appears to totter as trial nears
In recent weeks, the Alameda County district attorney's office said it would drop three of the four remaining charges. Now, that's on hold.
With the star witness missing in a high-profile misconduct case against a veteran Oakland homicide detective, prosecutors appear to be rethinking how to proceed.
In 2023, former Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price charged Detective Phong Tran with committing perjury by misrepresenting his relationship to Aisha Weber, a witness in a murder case.
The substance of the claim was that Tran knew Weber before she gave critical evidence but hid that fact on the stand. Tran has denied the allegations.
Price also alleged that Tran bribed Weber, and tried to bribe a second woman, as he worked to close the murder case, which stemmed from a shooting in 2011.
Tran's attorney, Andrew Ganz of Rains Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver, has said there is "no basis" for the charges and that Tran is "eagerly seeking to clear his name."
The case was set to begin trial this week — but, on Monday morning, attorneys instead asked for more time.
In recent weeks, the Alameda County district attorney's office had said it would drop three of the four remaining charges, leaving a single count of perjury to try.
(One of the original charges was already dropped.)
On Monday, prosecutor Darby Williams told the court her office had put its motion to dismiss on hold.
"That is not happening today," said Judge Roz Silvaggio, confirming with the attorneys that her understanding was correct. "It's not clear if that's happening at all."
In remarks during and after Monday's brief hearing, Williams said only that her office had become aware late Thursday of "potential additional information" and was not quite ready to dismiss the charges.
"We're going to see what the information is and we're going to make decisions based on what we learn," Williams said. "I really don't know what value it's going to have at this point."
The prosecution's case rests largely on Aisha Weber, an admitted liar who was granted a form of immunity under DA Pamela Price to testify against Tran in a critical hearing in 2023.
Weber gave a number of inconsistent statements after becoming part of the murder case in 2013.
Her testimony helped send two men to prison. She later recanted and their convictions were overturned.
In 2023, her story continued to shift, but her testimony was enough to move the prosecution against Tran forward under the Price administration.
Now, Weber has disappeared.
In mid-January, the DA's office said Weber had refused "all efforts" to appear in court, accept a subpoena or communicate with the office — and had also refused to say where she was.
When investigators went to her home in Oakland last year, Weber would only speak to them through her closed door, according to court records.
She told authorities she was going to move so no one could find her, the DA's office wrote.
Weber then failed to show up at a meeting with DA staff in November, after telling authorities that, if she wasn't there, it should "be interpreted as unwillingness to appear at the trial," the DA's office wrote.
The next time authorities went to Weber's apartment, it was empty. She had moved out the night before. Subsequent attempts to find her have failed.
In January, the DA's office sought a subpoena to bring Weber to court for trial, which Silvaggio granted, according to court papers.
But, as of this week, she has managed to stay off the radar.
On Monday, Williams said no one had been able to find Weber but declined to say exactly how the pending motion to dismiss might relate to her.
"The reality is that the entire case deals with Ms. Weber," she said. "It's difficult to separate that."
Ultimately, the attorneys agreed to return to court Thursday for a readiness hearing before Judge Silvaggio to determine what will happen next.
For now, the trial is set to begin Monday, with arguments about motions in the case to come before the jury is seated.
Phong Tran case: Catch up on the background
Emilie Raguso
Emilie Raguso
Emilie Raguso
Emilie Raguso
