A defense lawyer has accused an Oakland police officer of engaging in dubious behavior during the preliminary investigation into a shootout, including allegedly examining a car without a warrant or probable cause, in the lead-up to a murder trial.
The charges against Officer Samson Liu are the latest in a turbulent year that has also seen an arrest in Daly City on suspicion of domestic assault and a police raid on Liu’s Antioch property that was being used as an illegal marijuana grow house, according to authorities.
The 38-year-old Liu is now facing charges of carrying out an unlawful search and obtaining crucial evidence while wearing a body camera during the Charles Wright murder investigation in 2022.
The defense lawyer for Oakland resident Bomani Bassette-Hairston, who is charged with killing Wright on September 24, 2022, during a narcotics theft, made the accusations in court on Tuesday.
During a subsequent gunfight, Wright’s buddy shot Bassette-Hairston, who has been imprisoned for the last two years after being charged with murder.
“As will be seen from the evidence at the hearing of this motion, there was no probable cause established for the search in this case, Officer Liu did not witness Mr. Hairston-Bassette committing a crime, nor have reasonable and probable cause to believe such a crime was occurring,” the lawyer, Steve Defilippis, stated in court filings. “Moreover, the search in this case occurred without a warrant and without lawful justification for the search of Mr. Hairston-Bassette and was therefore illegal, as there was no application exception to the warrant requirement.”
Liu later tried to use a legal exception that pertains to vehicles in police control to defend the search, Defillippis continued. According to the defense motion, Liu also collected shell casings from the crime site and captured surveillance footage without turning on his body camera.
According to documents, Antoine “Fuzzy” Ford, 40, the man who shot and injured Bassette-Hairston that day, was found guilty of felony firearm possession and given a 41-month jail sentence.
Authorities discovered a large-scale marijuana grow house inside a house during a July raid on Liu’s property in Antioch, which prompted an investigation into possible criminal activity.
Contra Costa prosecutors say they decided not to charge him with a crime. Court documents show that he is still on administrative leave.
Liu was detained in Daly City in late September on suspicion of domestic abuse, according to the authorities, although court documents indicate he hasn’t been charged with anything related to that event either.
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Authorities confirmed that Bassette-Hairston, a former SJSU college football player, was expelled as a freshman in 2015 for allegedly hitting a teammate with a skateboard. The injured player was momentarily admitted to the hospital, according to media accounts from the time.
