"In a bid to toss their client's murder conviction, defense attorneys say an Oakland homicide detective showed racial bias by telling him an all-white jury could see him as a big scary Black guy, unless he confessed to the killing. By remaining silent and not admitting to the 2012 shooting, the detective allegedly told the suspect, he might as well squeeze that noose a little tighter, according to a recent legal filing by Jenny Brandt and Jane Brown of the Alameda County Public Defender's Office."
"The allegations come amid the ongoing fallout of felony perjury and bribery charges filed in 2023 against Tran, who is accused of paying off and coercing a witness in a separate 2011 murder case. Convictions against two other Black men in that case were later quietly overturned by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, after a key witness claimed she received thousands of dollars from Tran to lie on the stand."
Defense attorneys contend an Oakland homicide detective told their client an all-white jury would view him as a 'big scary Black guy' unless he confessed, and allegedly told him remaining silent tightened a figurative noose. The detectives' tactics are being challenged in a bid to overturn Steven Buggs' 2012 murder conviction under California's Racial Justice Act; Buggs was sentenced to 82 years to life. The detective, Phong Tran, faces separate felony perjury and bribery charges from 2023 related to paying and coercing a witness in a 2011 murder case, leading prosecutors to review hundreds of cases and prompting overturned convictions, plea deals, and dismissals.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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