Bolsavik.com

A Vietnamese woman is found guilty and now faces the potential death penalty for the double murder of a fortune teller and her daughter.

After a month-long trial, it took the jury less than one full day of deliberation to find Tanya Nelson, whose Vietnamese name is Phuong Thao Nguyen, guilty on two counts of first-degree murder and also found true three allegations of special circumstances, which makes Nelson now eligible for the death penalty.

The case has many bizarre plot twists, and yet they somehow stay credible. Key pieces of evidence have what the prosecutor argued in her closing statement “a ring of truth to it,” and the jury apparently agreed.

On the strength of forensics and the testimony of her accomplice Phillipe Zamora — another Viet with a non-Vietnamese name — Nelson was convicted in the killing of Ha Smith and her daughter Anita Vo. It probably didn’t help that Nelson’s diary for the day of the murder had the words “Grave Sin” written in English.

The jury also answered yes to three of the special circumstances questions: Lying in wait, murder during commission of robbery, and multiple murder.

The penalty phase - where the jury will decide whether to recommend the death penalty - begins next Tuesday. (If the jury does not recommend, the judge cannot impose the death penalty. If the jury does recommend, by law the judge can still give life without parole, but that is very rare.)

In the photo above is Ha Smith’s sister Thanh Huong Ngo, who traveled from Missouri to attend every court session since the case was first filed several years ago. As she answered questions from the Bolsavik (working in his day job), she showed pictures of her niece (left) and her sister.

She also showed pictures of her father, who went from a vibrant elderly gentleman to a weak old man needing help to walk, just from before to after the murder.

Zamora is the center of the case against Nelson. Defense attorney Kenneth Reed made much of the fact that Zamora is a liar, still lying on the witness stand (probably true), who testified in an attempt to get out of the death penalty.

The defense in the guilt phase - an extremely tough job for sure - consists of implying that Zamora killed both. Evidence was interpreted to say that Zamora killed both victims, and Nelson only profited from it. A crime, yes, but murder, no. Following closing argument, Reed argued to the Bolsavik, “He pleaded guilty to two counts of murder!” - which is something more like a spin because there are a million ways to be guilty of murder without being the person killing them.

The evidence presented at trial seems to tell this story:

(more…)

A Viet man in Westminster was arrested and held for mental evaluation for locking out his mother from their shared apartment and barricading himself with a large knife, says the Westminster Police Department in a press release here.

Paul Duc Vu, 35, who lives in the apartment complex at 9601 Madison Circle near the corner of Bolsa and Bushard, barricaded himself in the apartment for 3 hours.

Police said they could clearly see Vu holding a large butcher-style knife. Using English and Vietnamese, they tried to convince him to come outside and to put the knife down.

That didn’t work.

(more…)

Several Viet businesses in the Spokane area were fronts for a multimillion dollar drug ring busted by federal agents, reports the Seattle Times here and the Spokane-Review here.

And they would have continued their marijuana trafficking, if it weren’t for a single-vehicle crash that brought the ring, already under suspicion, to the fore.

At the center is Luyen V. “John” Doan, who’s been held in Spokane County Jail since February. Last week, Doan pleaded guilty to federal drug and investment charges and will give up more than 15 properties in Stevens, Spokane and Kootenai counties, including a home on Diamond Lake, a boat and a 2007 Mercedes-Benz.

He’s not the only one. Of the 30 people charged in the case, 18 have pleaded guilty and will cooperate in federal trials of the others. The Seattle Times reports:

“Federal prosecutors say Doan, 43, headed a drug operation that distributed thousands of pounds of marijuana throughout Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana.

“As his wealth accumulated, documents allege, Doan removed himself from the drug ring, employing dealers through businesses he owned or invested in, such as Lefty’s Steakhouse and Sports, the Teriyaki House, and Trick Shot Dixie Outlaw Saloon and BBQ [pictured].”

Doan himself is listed as an employee of Lefty’s Steakhouse and Sports.

(more…)

The grainy cell phone video of the police beating a Vietnamese student, once enhanced by a forensic expert hired by the San Jose Mercury News, confirms that Phuong Ho was not resisting, just going for his glasses - reports the paper here.

The video, taken by a roommate of Ho’s inside their house, shows Ho saying over and over, “I’m just looking for my glasses … I’m looking for my glasses” as he is struck. Ho’s glasses had fallen off earlier in the encounter as an officer shoved him.

Click on the picture to view the enhanced video.

In it, the San Jose State University math major repeatedly apologizes as the officers strike him and asks officers not to stand on him.

A transcript of the enhanced version of the September incident, created by an audio and video-forensic analyst hired by the Mercury News, also indicates one of the officers said at one point, “I wanted to punch that (expletive) in the mouth.”

Click here to read the transcript, made by Gregg Stutchman of the Stutchman Forensic Laboratory.

None of the details of these verbal exchanges between the officers and Ho had been clear in the raw version of the video, which was first reported by the Mercury News in October.

Terry Bowman, a lawyer representing officer Kenneth Siegel - the one who whoopped Ho with his baton - said, “It’s not a defense to say ‘I wanted my glasses,’” Bowman said. “It’s not the officers’ duty or responsibility to assume the most innocent intent. That’s how officers get killed.”

Which has a point, if coupled with some modicum of evidence showing Ho resisted.

All the facts known so far, however, are consistent with what Ho has said since the beginning, and that is we have a situation somewhere in the gray area where Ho was not obeying orders, but then he wasn’t resisting at all.

(more…)

A few days after a Vietnamese-American man was found shot dead in his home in an upscale Bay Area neighborhood, police said they think the crime may be drug related, reports KPIX CBS5 here.

Linh Tu Nguyen, 33, was found dead in his home on Orion Road in San Leandro. Police responding to reports of a shooting found Nguyen “suffering from gunshot wounds.”

Paramedics pronounced Nguyen dead at the scene.

Two days later, police announced that a large amount of marijuana was recovered from the home. They do not think the shooting was random.

(more…)

Attorneys representing the two police officers beating and Taser-ing the San Jose Vietnamese student claim the student was at fault for resisting arrest, says the San Jose Mercury News here.

Terry Bowman, representing Kenneth Siegel, the officer who repeatedly beat Phuong Ho, told the paper that Ho “is responsible for his conduct, and he is responsible for not taking lawful directives from a police officer.”

The “lawful directives” apparently refers to Siegel telling Ho to stay still while Siegel went to look for Ho’s ID in his room. Ho, instead, followed the cop, and officer Steven Payne Jr. slammed Ho into a wall to put handcuffs on him.

According to Ho, his glasses fell off, so he went after the glasses, and that was when the police started beating him.

Bowman said of Ho’s conduct, “He is being combative and noncompliant, and he raises the stakes of the game.”

The beating was captured on a grainy cell phone video taken by Ho’s roommate.

At one point, handcuffs could be heard snapping (which the lawyers now dispute), and after that Siegel delivered yet another baton blow.

(more…)

The sole Vietnamese-American on the city council of San Jose said in a written statement that she is “greatly disturbed” by the police beating of Vietnamese student Phuong Ho (pictured). In a separate interview with the Bolsavik, Councilmember Madison Nguyen also said she supports putting body cameras on police officers that record audio and video.

The statement (click here to read the original PDF) was issued by three council members. In addition to Nguyen, councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Ash Kalra also signed. Kalra is a former public defender; Liccardo is a former D.A. and the alleged beating took place in his district.

The three wrote, “We are greatly disturbed by the video released by the San Jose Mercury News on the arrest of Phuong Ho, a Vietnamese exchange student at San Jose State University.” (Read more here)

They stated, “The behavior of the San Jose Police officers at the scene needs to be investigated thoroughly to ensure accountability for their actions.”

In an acknowledgement that the secrecy surrounding the investigation of the Daniel Pham shooting (read here) was - at the least - problematic, the statement said, “We also ask that if the District Attorney chooses to conduct a grand jury proceeding, that it be open to the public.”

In an interview conducted for Nguoi Viet Daily News, Nguyen told the Bolsavik that she believes San Jose police needs some department-wide reforms.

(more…)

(Click on photo to view video)

Police using a metal baton repeatedly beat a man even after he’s down, and the whole thing was captured on video by an amateur who just happened to be there.

That may sound like something out of L.A. in the last century, but it’s not. It’s San Jose 2009, and the beating victim is a 20-year-old Vietnamese exchange student, hit more than 10 times, including at least once on the head while another cop sic’ed his Taser gun on him, reports the San Jose Mercury News here.

The grainy cellphone video of the police attack on San Jose State math student Phuong Ho (Vietnamese: Hồ Quang Phương) was posted on the Mercury News web site. It shows Ho on the ground, crying and moaning, being hit repeatedly. Click on the picture above to view.

News of the beating came on the heels of a decision by the local grand jury, after a secret session with the D.A.’s office, not to prosecute any of the police involved in the fatal shooting of a mentally unstable Vietnamese man, Daniel Pham (read here).

An unavoidable question: Is this an isolated case, or is there a pattern of abuse or discrimination toward Vietnamese?

San Jose Police Assistant Chief Daniel Katz, after being shown the video by the newspaper, said the department takes the matter “very seriously.”

Police reports identify the officer who was beating Ho as officer Kenneth Siegel, and the one who Tasered him as officer Steven Payne, Jr.

(more…)

A 42-year-old Viet alleged gangster is among three people charged with murder in the death of a Vietnamese-American man who had witnessed a prior shooting, resulting in the conviction of this defendant’s brother, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer here.

Quy D. Nguyen, 42, of Seattle is facing multiple charges in the January 2007 killing of Hoang Nguyen. Also charged is another Viet, Le Nhu Le, 41, of Kent, Washington; as well as Jerry H. Thomas III, 23, of Algona.

Hoang Nguyen was shot outside his apartment complex in what investigators believe was a revenge-murder plot masterminded by Quy Nguyen.

Although he’s 42 years old, Quy Nguyen is believed to be the leader of the Young Seattle Boyz street gang. Quy Nguyen is also believed to be a drug lord, paying people to run houses where he grows marijuana.

Hoang Nguyen had been a witness in a double shooting in Seattle in July 2006. Quy Nguyen’s brother Diem Nguyen was convicted in the shooting and sentenced to nearly 40 years.

Investigators said a gunman approached Hoang Nguyen and his wife as they were getting out of their car. The gunman asked Hoang Nguyen to put the coffee cup he was holding on the ground. As he did so, the gunman shot him in the back of the head, the victim’s wife told detectives.

(more…)

A Vietnamese man was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after he allegedly slammed his minivan into, yep, a police cruiser.

Trang Nguyen, 52, was in jail for two days before he was released early morning on Sunday on bond, Los Angeles Sheriff Department’s records show.

The crash occured about 7:30pm Friday, according to the Pasadena Star-News here.

A sheriff’s deputy, driving a patrol car, was driving northbound on San Gabriel Boulevard in San Gabriel, while Nguyen was approaching from the opposite direction on the same street.

At the corner of Chestnut, Nguyen allegedly did not yield the right of way to the patrol car, cut left in front of the incoming cop car, and allegedly caused a crash.

(more…)