Two men whose murder convictions were overturned are suing the department and the detective who admitted to paying a key witness that later recanted her testimony.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price last week announced perjury and bribery charges against an Oakland police homicide detective over his alleged interactions with witnesses in a 2016 murder trial.
Donning a red jail jumpsuit, Oakland homicide investigator Phong Tran pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court to felony charges of perjury, bribery, threatening a witness and other allegations.
A man who was sentenced to life in prison for a 2011 murder in North Oakland was quietly released from prison last September after a key witness reversed her previous trial testimony, now saying in sworn testimony that she had felt “pressured” to lie on the stand by Oakland police Detective Phong Tran, who secretly paid her thousands of dollars before the trial. By Ken Epstein A man who was sentenced to life in prison for a 2011 murder in North Oakland was quietly released from prison last September after a key witness reversed her previous trial testimony, now saying in sworn testimony that she had felt “pressured” to lie on the stand by Oakland police Detective Phong