OAKLAND — A 50-year-old man is freed from prison, more than a decade after he was convicted in the slaying of his childhood friend.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office this week dismissed its case against Steven Buggs, who had served time in state prison after jurors found him guilty of the 2012 killing.
Buggs is no longer listed in state prison logs. The dismissal is tied to an ongoing Oakland Police Department scandal involving Phong Tran, a veteran homicide detective accused of bribing and coercing witnesses to secure numerous convictions.
The decision by Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson’s decision comes weeks after a judge overturned Buggs’ murder conviction in the killing, leaving Jones Dickson with a decision on whether to re-try the case. In a hearing Thursday, Assistant District Attorney John Brouhard said the case was dismissed “in the interest of justice,” court records show.
A message by this news outlet to Jones Dickson’s office seeking comment on the decision was not immediately returned. The Alameda County Public Defender’s Office, which represented Buggs, also did not return a request by this news outlet for comment.
Buggs is at least the third person whose murder conviction has been dismissed amid concerns about Tran, who is awaiting a March 2 trial date on felony bribery and perjury charges. The scandal has already led to multiple lenient plea deals and case dismissals tied to the detective’s work, along with a review of more than 200 homicide cases he either led or touched.
In Buggs’ case, prosecutors and defense attorneys sparred over Tran’s methods for identifying suspects in the killing of Lester Young, who was shot dead inside his East Oakland home.
Tran originally obtained an arrest warrant for another man, after the only other individual in the room during the killing identified that person as the shooter. Tran’s focus later shifted to Buggs after receiving a tip from either an anonymous caller or confidential informant, court records show.
Homicide detective Phong Tran pleaded not guilty Wednesday morning to perjury and other felony charges connected to his handling of a 2011 homicide investigation, a day after he was arrested and booked at Santa Rita Jail. (Courtesy of Alameda County SheriffÕs Office)Allegations of misconduct by Tran in other cases “would likely have carried weight” with jurors who were already “concerned about the accuracy of the identifications and the integrity of Tran’s methods,” Stevens wrote in December ruling overturning the conviction.
Tran’s own criminal case could soon come to a head, with prosecutors set to present their case by mid-March. In a recent court filing, prosecutors signaled a potential setback in their case when they told a judge that a key witness has apparently moved out of her apartment and is no longer answering phone calls.
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.
Those two men, Giovonte Douglas and Cartier Hunter, were later released from prison in 2022 after former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley quietly dismissed their cases when Weber’s allegations came to light. The men have since filed a federal lawsuit over Tran’s alleged actions, along with concerns that Oakland police failed to turn over key details of Butler’s killing to defense attorneys.
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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