| For Immediate Release Case # 08NF1399
May 8, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
JUVENILE GANG MEMBER SENTENCED TO 28 YEARS TO LIFE AFTER BEING CONVICTED AS ADULT FOR ATTEMPTING TO MURDER MAN IN PARK IN UNPROVOKED STABBING
SANTA ANA – A juvenile gang member, who was prosecuted as an adult, was sentenced today to 28 years to life in state prison for attempting to murder a man in a park during the unprovoked attack of the victim and his friends by the defendant’s Korean criminal street gang. Dave Dae Hong Kim, 17, Buena Park, was found guilty by a jury on March 18, 2009, of one felony count each of attempted murder, aggravated assault, street terrorism, vandalism over $400, and sentencing enhancements for criminal street gang activity and great bodily injury.
At approximately 9:30 p.m. on March 29, 2008, Jack Stotts was at Emery Park in Fullerton with his brother Scott Stotts, girlfriend Amy Espinoza, and friend Herman Martinez. While sitting in the park, the victims were approached by several males, including Kim. The defendant, a member of a Korean criminal street gang, and his fellow gang members asked Jack Stotts where he was from. The victim and his friends do not belong to any gang. Kim and his fellow gang members then attacked Jack Stotts using a knife and a baseball bat, which they passed around and used against the victim as other gang members punched and kicked him. The defendant and his fellow gang members were shouting their gang name as they stabbed Jack Stotts eight times in the back and torso and hit him in the head with the baseball bat. Martinez was also struck with the baseball bat.
The victims were able to run away, but were unable to leave the park after finding that all four tires on Espinoza’s car had been slashed. The defendants fled the scene and Jack Stotts’ friends called 9-1-1. He was transported to the hospital, where he was in critical condition with severe internal bleeding.
Defendant Nam Gun Kim, 23, Fullerton, no familial relation to Dave Kim, is accused of participating in the attack. He is charged with the same criminal counts as Dave Kim and is scheduled for jury trial on June 2, 2009, in Department C-5, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Jerry Schaffer of the TARGET Unit prosecuted this case.
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