Jury selection wrapped up in the corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao on Tuesday after eight hours of questioning from a federal judge, U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors and defense attorneys.
The jury of five men and seven women was seated in preparation of what’s expected to be a roughly six-week trial in front of Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, a magistrate with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The 12 jurors and six alternates were selected from a pool of roughly 70 potential jurors who were questioned about their ability to hear all the evidence in the case, remain unbiased and render a fair verdict.
“The job of the jury is to focus on facts,” Gonzalez Rogers said at the beginning of the selection process, which started at about 9:30 a.m. and wrapped up at about 5:30 p.m.
“What I’m looking for are jurors who can be open minded,” she said.
Inside the alleged bribery scheme
The case centers around an alleged bribery for influence scheme focused on Thao, her romantic partner Andre Jones and a pair of influential Oakland business owners — David Duong and his son Andy — who all pleaded not guilty to a rash of federal corruption and bribery charges in January.
“The indictment returned by the grand jury describes a corrupt scheme in which the defendant used bribes, mail fraud, wire fraud and other illegal practices to manipulate and corruptly influence the levers of local government,” Patrick Robbins, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, said at the time.
The alleged scheme started around October 2022, just weeks prior to the November election Thao narrowly won, and involved $95,000 in four separate payments from the Duongs to Thao and Jones, according to federal prosecutors, who say an additional $205,000 was promised.
At Thao’s direction, the money was allegedly paid to Jones for non-existent work he did for the Duongs’ recycling company, California Waste Solutions.
In exchange, Thao allegedly agreed that the city would buy small modular homes from a Duong-owned company, extend a city recycling contract for another of their companies, and appoint a high-level city official to benefit the Duongs.
In addition to the $95,000, the Duongs also allegedly bribed Thao by paying $75,000 for a negative campaign mailer targeting her political foes in the final days of the 2022 election.
Thao’s lawyer Jeff Tsai said back in January that the government’s case is full of holes, his client is innocent of all charges, and that the indictment came as a complete surprise given Thao’s willingness to cooperate.
“There are numerous allegations that are made, but what is missing from this indictment is anything that truly indicates that the mayor had any involvement in the scheme that the government has described,” Tsai said.
In addition to questions about their general ability to be fair, prospective jurors were asked Tuesday about whether they held biases for or against law enforcement, if they thought that defendants who declined to testify in their own defense did so because they’re probably guilty, and if they had any hardships like medical conditions or childcare needs that would prevent them from participating in the trial, which is expected to end just before Thanksgiving.
They were also asked if they were exposed to media coverage of the case and, if so, could they put that aside to evaluate the facts as presented in court and then apply the appropriate federal statutes to render a fair verdict.
“Do you understand that just because something is on the news doesn’t make it facts or real,” Gonzalez Rogers said.
They were also asked how they felt about Oakland politicians and government officials generally and how they would react to testimony from a government witness who pleaded guilty to a crime in the hope that their cooperation with prosecutors would be taken into account during sentencing.
The case is scheduled to continue Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. with opening statements from prosecutors and defense attorneys.
