| For Immediate Release Case # 07ZF0003
July 16, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
GANG MEMBER SENTENCED TO OVER 25 YEARS
IN PRISON FOR KILLING 13-YEAR-OLD BOY MISTAKENLY BELIEVED TO BE A RIVAL
*Jury recommended the death penalty for shooter co-defendant in June 2009
SANTA ANA – A gang member pleaded guilty today to killing a 13-year-old boy and attempting to murder two of his family members for the benefit of his gang after mistakenly believing that the victims were rivals. Defendant Quang Hal Do, 24, Westminster, who was 18 years old at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty to one felony count of voluntary manslaughter, two felony counts of attempted murder, and a sentencing enhancement for criminal street gang activity. Do was sentenced to 25 years and eight months in state prison.
CO-DEFENDANTS
The defendants are all members of a Vietnamese criminal street gang. A jury recommended the death penalty for defendant Jason Alejandro Aguirre, 34, Garden Grove, on June 15, 2009. Aguirre, who was 28 years old at the time of the murder, was found guilty by that jury on May 21, 2009, of felonies for one count of special circumstances murder for a criminal street gang purpose, two counts of attempted murder, and one count of street terrorism. The sentencing enhancements for the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury and death, great bodily injury, and criminal street gang activity were found true. Aguirre is scheduled to be formally sentenced on Aug. 14, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-40, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Defendants Harrison Khoa Pham, then 16 years old, Aaron Villegas, then 16 years old, and Danny Viet Duong, then 17 years old, were all prosecuted as adults. Pham, 22, pleaded guilty Oct. 31, 2008, to two felony counts of attempted murder, one felony count of street terrorism, and one felony count of voluntary manslaughter. He was sentenced July 10, 2009, to six years and eight months in state prison. Villegas, 22, pleaded guilty Feb. 14, 2006, and Duong, 23, pleaded guilty Sept. 15, 2006, to one felony count of voluntary manslaughter and one felony count of street terrorism. Both are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 11, 2009, in Department C-30, Central Justice Center.
Dung Q Le, 26, Portland, OR, who was 20 years old at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty June 20, 2008, to two felony counts of attempted murder and one felony count of voluntary manslaughter with a sentencing enhancement for criminal street gang activity and was sentenced to 23 years and four months in state prison. Donny Long Nguyen, 24, Westminster, who was 18 years old at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty Jan. 11, 2008, to two felony counts of attempted murder and one felony count of voluntary manslaughter with a sentencing enhancement for criminal street gang activity and was sentenced to 18 years and four months is state prison.
CIRCUMSTANCES OF CRIMINAL CASE
On Aug. 12, 2003, 13-year-old Minh Tran went for tacos with his brother Anh Tran, 14, cousins Ba Tran, 14, and Ahn Ta, 14, and uncle Nam Luong, 28, to Alerto’s Mexican Food on Brookhurst in Westminster. Alerto’s was a regular hangout for members of Aguirre’s criminal street gang.