From: webihara@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Wataru Ebihara)
Subject: Justice for Luyen Phan Nguyen
Organization: The Ohio State University
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 17:52:44 GMT



   (From Asian Week, Oct. 30, 1992, Vol. 14, No. 11, p. 1)

   Guilty Verdict In Florida Killing
   ---------------------------------
   
   FORT LAUDERDALE (FL) -- A jury of six men and two women convicted
   18-year-old Bradley Mills of second-degree murder in the killing
   of Luyen Phan Nguyen, who was beaten to death in August following
   racial slurs.
   
   The jury deliberated for four hours before reaching the Oct 21
   verdict; the other six defendants will be tried in January.
   Mills, who is the first to be tried in the case, is being held in
   custody pending a Nov. 24 sentencing.
   
   Nguyen, 19, who was going to be sophomore at the University of
   Miami, was beaten by a mob of about 15 people at a party in Coral
   Springs who yelled racial slurs such as "chink", "Vietcong", and
   "I hate Vietnamese", according to testifying witnesses.
   
   The Asian Law Caucus called the decision a "victory for the Asian
   and Pacific Islander community", but cautioned that the case is
   far from over.
   
   The National Network Against Anti-Asian Violence also lauded the
   prosecution and the jury. "It sends a resounding message to the
   nation that anyone who participates in acts of mob violence will
   be held culpable and subject to the full extent of the law," said
   Daphne Kwok, executive director of the Organization of Chinese
   Americans.
   
   "The Vietnamese American community is truly grateful that the
   justice system worked," said Ngoan Le, vice president of the
   National Congress of Vietnamese in America. "As newcomers to this
   country, this verdict has affirmed our belief in the
   Constitutional and democratic principles of this nation."
   
   Representative Norman Mineta (D-Calif.) said he had been
   reassured by local authorities that hate crimes would not be
   tolerated in their community.
   

=====================================================================

   Excerpt from "Screams of murder ignored in Coral Springs" The
   Miami Herald, 8/19/92
   
   Apartment residents and partygoers ignored the screams of a
   19-year-old college student as he was beaten to death in Coral
   Springs Saturday night, eyewitnesses said Tuesday.
   
   Anyone in the Springside Apartments complex, 9020 Royal Palm
   Blvd., must have heard the piercing cries of Luyen Phan Nguyen,
   the witnesses said.  Nguyen, a University of Miami pre-med
   student, was attacked by about 15 young men at a party after he
   protested an insulting reference to his Vietnamese origin.
   
   "Other people in the complex are saying they didn't hear
   anything,"  said one eyewitness, who lives on the sixth floor of
   the apartments.  "But I had the air conditioner on, the TV on and
   the door closed, and I heard it."
   
   The incident began late Saturday when Nguyen responded to a
   racial slur, police said.  The dispute quickly moved to a grassy
   area in the apartment complex.  By the time the police arrived,
   Nguyen had been beaten senseless by a mob.
   
   The three witnesses described the beating as an act of
   bewildering cruelty. "They were kicking him and hitting him,"
   said one, who called the police.  "I didn't see anyone holding
   back.  Then they all just walked away casually.  Afterward, they
   were all just laughing."