Wrongfully Imprisoned Men Sue Oakland and Homicide Detective Over Fabricated Testimony
Giovante Douglas and Cartier Hunter file federal civil rights lawsuit after their decade of wrongful imprisonment ended with a homicide detective’s arrest
Giovante Douglas and Cartier Hunter were sentenced to life in prison in 2016 after being tried in the killing of a man following a 2011 traffic altercation. The chief witness against them admitted that, at the urging of Oakland Police homicide detective Phong Tran, she lied in an interview with Tran, and again during both the preliminary hearing and from the witness stand at the men’s trial.
“These men lost their youth to wrongful imprisonment resulting from lies conjured up by an investigator who was sworn to rigorously adhere to facts, to protect the innocent, but who for reasons only he knows decided to betray his public duty and the community’s trust,” said Civil Rights Attorney Adanté Pointer, of Oakland’s Pointer & Buelna LLP.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office on April 25 charged Tran with perjury, bribery of a witness, attempted bribery of a witness and inducing a witness to give false testimony. The woman recanted her testimony in 2021 and said she was paid as much as $30,000 for testifying.
Both men were freed after their convictions were vacated and the charges dismissed. Douglas, now 31, was released in September 2022. Hunter, now 34, was released in February 2023.
Meanwhile, both men are trying to pull the pieces of their lives back together, making up for time lost with family and getting reacclimated to living in the free world, Pointer said.
“Ten years of stolen life can't simply be brushed off. Giovante and Cartier are now free, yet will always carry deep wounds inflicted by a broken system. This lawsuit is about helping to heal those wounds, reclaiming their dignity, and holding accountable those who planted the seeds of this profound injustice,” said Civil Rights Attorney Lateef Gray, also of Pointer & Buelna.
The lawsuit was filed at U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, in San Francisco; Giovante Douglas and Cartier Hunter v. the City of Oakland, Phong Tran, et. al., Case No. 4:23-cv-02820 (June 8, 2023).
About Pointer & Buelna, LLP, Lawyers for the People: Civil rights attorneys Adanté Pointer and Patrick Buelna started their law firm to give people a chance against large institutions like the police, government, corporations and insurance companies. They have secured many of the largest trial verdicts and settlements in these practice areas.
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Two men wrongfully imprisoned for a decade file federal civil rights lawsuit against Oakland PD and a detective who is facing bribery, witness tampering charges
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