| For Immediate Release Case # 09ZF0050
February 5, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
FOUR MEMBERS OF VIETNAMESE GANG TO BE ARRAIGNED ON INDICTMENT FOR 1995 COLD CASE EXECUTION STYLE RETALIATORY MURDER
SANTA ANA – Four members of a Vietnamese criminal street gang will be arraigned tomorrow on an indictment for the 1995 cold case execution-style murder of a fellow gang associate in retaliation for abandoning them while committing a home invasion robbery one day earlier. Anthony Paul Johnson, Jr., 32, formerly of Westminster, Giang Thuy Nguyen, 33, formerly of Fountain Valley, Tam Hung Nguyen, 33, formerly of Riverside, and Truc Ngoc Tran, 31, Santa Ana, were indicted by the grand jury on Jan. 15, 2009.
Johnson is charged with one felony count of murder and one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder. He faces special circumstance allegations for murder by lying in wait and murder to avoid arrest and a sentencing enhancement for committing a crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang.
Giang Nguyen is charged with one felony count of murder and one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder. He faces special circumstance allegations for murder by lying in wait and murder to avoid arrest and sentencing enhancements for committing a crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang and crime-bail-crime for a burglary in 1994.
Tam Nguyen is charged with one felony count of murder and one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder. He faces a special circumstance allegation for murder by lying in wait and sentencing enhancements for committing a crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang and the personal discharge of a firearm.
Tran is charged with one felony count of murder and one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder. He faces a special circumstance allegation for murder by lying in wait and a sentencing enhancement for committing a crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang.
If convicted, all four defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Tran was arrested on Jan. 17, 2009, by the Costa Mesa Police Department in Santa Ana. Johnson and Giang Nguyen were both in state prison at the time of the indictment on unrelated charges and were transported to Orange County. Tam Nguyen was arrested in Anoka County, MN, and is awaiting extradition. All four defendants are each being held on $1 million bail. Johnson, Tran, and Giang Nguyen are expected to be arraigned tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 6, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-5, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. An arraignment for Tam Nguyen is to be determined.
On the morning of Feb. 24, 1995, Johnson, Giang Nguyen, and murder victim Viet Nguyen committed a masked home invasion robbery in Huntington Beach at the home of a high school classmate of Viet Nguyen. During the robbery Viet Nguyen fled the scene, leaving his fellow gang members to complete the crime, fearing that the victim in the residence may recognize him. This robbery was not prosecuted, as it remained unsolved for several years and the statute of limitations has run.
On the evening of Feb. 24, 1995, Johnson, Giang Nguyen, Tam Nguyen, and Tran are accused of meeting at a house in Midway City and conspiring to murder Viet Nguyen in retaliation for fleeing during the robbery that morning and to prevent him from implicating Johnson and Giang Nguyen in the robbery if he were to be identified by the victim and arrested.