{"id":521184,"date":"2026-11-07T01:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T01:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/521184\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T01:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T01:24:12","slug":"oakland-on-trial-day-13-juarez-and-defense-attorney-clash-in-combative-cross-examination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/521184\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland on Trial: Day 13 \u2014 Juarez and Defense Attorney Clash in Combative Cross-Examination"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Day 13<\/p>\n

\u2014David Duong\u2019s attorney hammered the prosecution\u2019s star witness over his history of financial misconduct, shifting accounts and alleged inconsistencies, prompting testy exchanges and a warning from the judge.<\/p>\n

The battle between Mario Juarez and defense attorney Ed Swanson turned increasingly hostile Friday as the Oakland political operative struggled to explain past financial dealings, acknowledged instances of wrongdoing and occasionally offered vague or contradictory answers during a bruising cross-examination in the federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, her ex-partner Andre Jones, and David and Andy Duong.<\/p>\n

Swanson spent much of the day attacking Juarez\u2019s credibility, portraying the prosecution\u2019s star witness as a financially desperate businessman with a history of deception and a powerful incentive to implicate the defendants to save himself.<\/p>\n

Juarez frequently pushed back, at times mocking Swanson\u2019s questions and accusing him of twisting his testimony.<\/p>\n

\u201cCounselor, you have a hard time defending your client,\u201d Juarez snapped during one particularly contentious exchange.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers eventually admonished both men over their increasingly combative behavior.<\/p>\n

Swanson\u2019s questioning repeatedly returned to a central theme: If Juarez had deceived business partners, landlords and lenders in the past, why should jurors believe his account of an alleged bribery conspiracy involving Thao, Jones and the Duongs?<\/p>\n

The attorney revisited Juarez\u2019s May 2024 statements to Oakland police, during which Juarez described delivering money to Jones as part of what he characterized as a money-laundering scheme.<\/p>\n

Yet Juarez initially denied that his actions constituted a crime, even after an officer challenged him over his admissions.<\/p>\n

Juarez acknowledged Friday that he had attempted to minimize his involvement to police, explaining that he was \u201cbruised and confused\u201d following an alleged assault involving the Duongs.<\/p>\n

Swanson also challenged Juarez over the terms of his federal plea agreement, including proposed provisions that would have conditioned his cooperation on the prosecution of other defendants and an investigation into the alleged assault that occurred against him in May 2024.<\/p>\n

Juarez ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, a charge that differs from the full slate of offenses facing the four defendants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pled to the crime that I was guilty of,\u201d Juarez said. \u201cWe all committed bribery,\u201d he added. Asked whether he also committed honest services fraud, Juarez answered yes, despite not being charged with that offense.<\/p>\n

\u2014JUAREZ UNDER THE MICROSCOPE\u2014Swanson then marched through a series of troubled financial transactions, including Juarez\u2019s dealings with printer Samari Johnson, whose business produced controversial negative campaign mailers targeting Thao\u2019s 2022 mayoral opponent, Loren Taylor.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou ripped him off in this deal?\u201d Swanson asked. \u201cI did,\u201d Juarez replied.<\/p>\n

Juarez acknowledged intentionally moving money out of an account, causing a check to Johnson to bounce. \u201cI\u2019m very sorry that I did that to him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But when Swanson pressed him about whether all 68,000 mailers were delivered before Election Day, Juarez grew irritated, insisting there were discrepancies in the printing and distribution, and some arrived in mailboxes after Election Day in November 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you not listening or do you want to hear something different?\u201d Juarez shot back.<\/p>\n

Other exchanges revealed apparent lapses in Juarez\u2019s memory that suddenly gave way to detailed explanations.<\/p>\n

Asked about a 2021 loan application, Juarez initially struggled to remember the transaction. He later provided extensive details, including the loan\u2019s interest rate and his reasons for stopping payments.<\/p>\n

Swanson also questioned Juarez about a $45,000 transaction involving an East Oakland church and allegations that funds intended for the congregation were diverted into an account controlled by Juarez.<\/p>\n

Juarez said he could not recall the transaction or the client, noting that he had handled thousands of real estate deals.<\/p>\n

In another matter, Juarez acknowledged altering a landlord\u2019s lease agreement to increase a tenant\u2019s security deposit from $7,000 to $21,000 without the landlord\u2019s knowledge, and then pocketing the difference. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was illegal and whatever happened I was prosecuted for and faced criminal charges,\u201d Juarez said, who surrendered his real estate license after the incident.<\/p>\n

\u2014DEAL DAY LOCATION\u2014The sharpest exchanges came when Swanson challenged Juarez\u2019s shifting recollections of when Thao allegedly demanded a $300,000 job for Jones.<\/p>\n

Juarez initially told federal investigators the demand occurred at a campaign fundraiser at a restaurant in Jack London Square. He later placed the pivotal conversation at his office on Oct. 7, 2022.<\/p>\n

Juarez explained that reviewing calendars and other evidence helped refresh his memory. He became visibly annoyed, defending his recollection and insisting Thao had demanded a bribe.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wanted a bribe. Pretty straightforward. She wanted money,\u201d Juarez testified.<\/p>\n

Swanson also questioned why certain alleged illegal arrangements were missing from written agreements.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost illegal notes, we don\u2019t put them in writing,\u201d Juarez replied.<\/p>\n

\u2014SHIFT IN DEMEANOR\u2014The contentious testimony prompted another courtroom dispute after Juarez returned from a midday break with a noticeably different demeanor.<\/p>\n

Shawn Halbert, an attorney for Jones, raised concerns at the end of the day about witnessing conversations involving Juarez and his attorney during the recess.<\/p>\n

Juarez\u2019s attorney denied coaching his client, saying he merely checked on his condition while Juarez ate a sandwich.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez Rogers cautioned Halbert against suggesting misconduct without evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not stupid and neither is this jury. Nobody is being snowed,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did come back different,\u201d Halbert responded.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW THE TRIAL: East Bay Insiders provides daily courtroom coverage of the Oakland public corruption trial, delivered straight to your inbox around 4 p.m each day in addition to the daily 6 a.m. newsletter. <\/p>\n

Get the latest testimony, courtroom drama and political intrigue by becoming a paid subscriber to East Bay Insiders. Support independent local journalism and don\u2019t miss a moment of this historic trial.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Refer a friend<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Day 13 \u2014David Duong\u2019s attorney hammered the prosecution\u2019s star witness over his history of financial misconduct, shifting accounts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-521184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}