Judge Rejects Tran’s Plea to Disqualify D.A. From His Case

A judge on Tuesday denied Truong Van Tran’s request that the district attorney’s office be disqualified from prosecuting the video piracy case against him.

Attorneys for Tran, who set off a series of protests in Little Saigon by placing Communist symbols in his shop earlier this year, argued that Dist. Atty. Anthony J. Rackauckas was biased because he had spoken at a political rally in support of the protesters. They wanted the case to be handled instead by the state attorney general’s office.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig McKinnon, who represented the prosecutor’s office, said the ruling by Judge Mary Fingal Erikson showed Tran’s motion “was very close to being frivolous.” Tran’s attorney, Ron Talmo, could not be reached to discuss the ruling.

Tran sparked community anger when he placed a Vietnamese flag and photo of late Communist leader Ho Chi Minh inside his video store. The ensuing two months of demonstrations drew thousands of protesters.

The protests ended March 5 when police raided Tran’s store and confiscated more than 17,000 videotapes of Asian soap operas. Tran was arrested a week later on suspicion of video piracy. His arraignment is set for June 9.