| For Immediate Release Case # 07ZF0015
October 9, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MAN SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN STATE PRISON
FOR STABBING AND KILLING VICTIM AT
APARTMENT PARTY
SANTA ANA – An Anaheim man was sentenced today to 12 years in state prison for stabbing and killing another man after getting into an argument at a party at an apartment in Anaheim. David Louis Vinci Jr., 25, Anaheim, was found guilty by a jury July 2, 2009, of one felony count of voluntary manslaughter with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon.
On June 2, 2007, Vinci went to a party with several friends. At approximately 12:30 a.m., 19-year-old Sean Pickett arrived at the party and got into a verbal argument with his girlfriend, who was hosting the party. Upon seeing Pickett and his girlfriend arguing, Vinci and a few friends joined the argument, escalating it into a physical attack on Pickett.
Pickett was able to run away from the attack and call his friends, including 23-year-old Andrew Thompson, to come join him at the party to protect him from the defendant and his friends. After returning to the party with his friends, Pickett and his girlfriend resumed their argument and the girlfriend told Pickett to leave.
As Pickett and his friends, including Thompson, left the party, Vinci yelled at the victims from the balcony of the second story apartment. He ran downstairs with a knife and stabbed Thompson one time in the heart, killing him. Vinci was arrested the following morning at his girlfriend’s home.
During the sentencing today, Thompson’s father and two sisters gave victim impact statements, remembering Thompson as an energetic, fun, and loving son and brother. They stated that nothing could ever be done to repair the damage done by Vinci taking Thompson from them. Today was the victim’s birthday. He would have turned 26 years old.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Howard Gundy of the Homicide Unit prosecuted this case.
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