Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was back in federal court Thursday for a status hearing in the criminal fraud case against her and three other defendants. Velena Jones reports.
Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was back in federal court Thursday for a status hearing in the criminal fraud case against her and three other defendants.
Prosecutors in the hearing handed over hundreds of thousands of files that make up some of the evidence in the case against the four defendants, who all are facing federal charges in connection with an Oakland bribery scheme.
"When you look at the mountain of evidence in this case, I think it is unlikely this case will go to trial," said Steven Clark, a criminal defense lawyer.
Thao left the court house in silence and her legal team provided no comment.
In addition to Thao, the other defendants are her longtime partner Andre Jones, and businessmen David and Andy Duong. All defendants appeared in court on Thursday.
The Duongs run California Waste Solution, a recycling company contracted by Oakland.
Each of the defendants declined to answer any reporter questions after the hearing.
Clark said the defense will now start their own investigation and interviews.
"What's important here for each of these defendants is to review this material and determine how they have been received by the government," Clark said.
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Prosecutors handed the defense 140 gigabytes of information, including more than 250,000 files from interviews, searches, recordings, financial records, emails and electronic devices. They also said more is on the way.
Defense attorneys said they are hoping the rest comes soon, adding it could take months to process.
Clark said the amount of evidence is larger than a typical case.
"This is a complex case. It involves serious jail time of people that are in the public spotlight," he said. "I think the government did have the burden of making sure that they were detailed in their review of this case before they sought these indictments."
All four defendants last month pled not guilty to charges of bribery, conspiracy, and mail and wire fraud.
Prosecutors allege Thao and Jones used her position for financial and political gain, and accepted bribes from the Duongs in exchange for boosting their business.
Thao has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
"The mayor looks forward to defending herself against these charges, showing that there is in fact no evidence to support these charges," said Jeff Tsai, Thao's attorney, previously said. "And we will look forward to doing that in the courtroom."
The federal magistrate on Thursday made it clear how the former mayor will be handled in court. The magistrate quickly correcting Thao's attorney, who has repeatedly referred to her as "Mayor Sheng Thao" with the judge emphasizing the word "former."
"This is going to be a war of words between the defense and prosecution in many ways," Clark said. "But the judge wanted to set the record straight that this is not the current mayor. This is the former mayor, but she is still a very well-known public figure."
Both sides are due back in federal court for another status hearing on April 24.
