Opinion ID: 2827119
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: February 5, 1995, murder of Sang Nguyen

Text: On February 5, 1995, Cheap Boys gang member Sang Nguyen was shot and killed outside of the Dong Khanh restaurant in Westminster. Trieu Binh Nguyen, a fellow member of the Cheap Boys, who was visiting from Texas to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year, had gone to dinner at the restaurant with the victim and several other people, including his girlfriend Bich To, Binh Tran, and Linda Vu. Trieu and Tran went outside so Trieu could smoke a cigarette. Vu looked through the front window of the restaurant and saw defendant, whom she recognized as belonging to the Nip Family. She told the victim, ―I thought I saw N.F. [Nip Family] outside.‖ Sang asked where Tran was, and Vu said he was outside smoking. The victim went outside and met defendant. They 5 shook hands, and defendant ―grabbed his head‖ and shot the victim. Vu grabbed her one-year-old daughter and ducked under the table. Vu later identified defendant in a photographic line up, at the preliminary hearing, and at trial. Trieu saw defendant and two other members of the Nip Family walk quickly toward the restaurant. Defendant was carrying a gun. Sang was leaving the restaurant and approached defendant and his companions. Trieu heard a gunshot and saw Sang grab his stomach and fall to the ground. Defendant then shot the victim in the head and ran away. Trieu acknowledged he had told the police at the scene of the crime that he had not witnessed the murder because he had been in the bathroom. He explained that in the gang subculture, a person who talks to the police may be beaten or killed. Later, he called the police because he could no longer tolerate that defendant had gotten away with killing his friend. At the scene of the crime, Vu also had told the police that Trieu had been in the bathroom when the crime occurred. She explained that people in the gang subculture are not supposed to talk to the police, saying that you are ―a rat‖ if you do and rats ―sometimes . . . get hurt.‖ Martin Hall was standing by a public telephone outside the restaurant doors when he heard a gunshot and saw the victim fall on his face. The shooter then ―stepped over him and held a gun down and then made a comment and shot him again.‖ Hall could not hear the whole comment but described it as ―somethingsomething mother fucker.‖ The shooter then ―just stood up and casually walked down the short steps into the parking lot‖ and walked away. Hall failed to identify defendant in a subsequent photo lineup and did not identify defendant as the shooter at trial. 6