| For Immediate Release Case # 08CF3622
March 23, 2010 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
PHARMACY STUDENT CONVICTED OF STRANGLING AND KILLING MOTHER AFTER BECOMING ANGRY THAT SHE DISAPPROVED OF HIS PHARMACY STUDIES
SANTA ANA – A pharmacy student was convicted today of strangling and killing his mother after becoming angry that she disapproved of his pharmacy studies and wanted him to become a physician. Son Richard Lam Nguyen, 31, Garden Grove, was found guilty by a jury of one felony count of voluntary manslaughter and faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in state prison at his sentencing on May 21, 2010, in Department C-44, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
The defendant is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor of Science in biology. At the time of the crime, he was a first-year student at Ross University in Dominica, located in the Caribbean, studying to be a pharmacist.
Late on the night of Dec. 20, 2008, Son Nguyen was home with his 71-year-old mother, Nuong Nguyen, while on break from school. The defendant was living in a room that he shared with the victim in a Garden Grove home. The defendant became angry and started arguing with his mother because she wanted him to become a physician and did not support his desire to become a pharmacist.
While arguing with the victim, Son Nguyen became enraged and strangled his mother to death with his hands in the bedroom. He left her 5-foot tall, 80-pound body in the room and slept in his car. The following morning at approximately 12:20 p.m., Son Nguyen called the police to report that he had hurt his mother and she was dead.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Cameron Talley of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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