Suspect in Killing Ordered to Stand Trial

A 20-year-old Sun Valley man who allegedly served as the getaway driver in the Aug. 14 robbery and slaying of a Van Nuys 7-Eleven store clerk was ordered Monday to stand trial on a charge of murder.

Van Nuys Municipal Judge James M. Coleman also ruled that the prosecution had presented enough evidence to hold the man, Aries Yap, for trial on charges of robbery and attempted robbery in connection with the holdup the next evening of a man and woman at a Panorama City apartment building.

Yap’s alleged accomplice, Phouvong (Freeman) Inthavong, 19, of Hollywood, said during Yap’s three-day preliminary hearing that he shot the clerk, Vijay Shankar Roy, because he thought Roy was reaching for a gun.

Inthavong testified Monday that he and Yap had been “looking for someone to rob” and that they planned the two robberies together. Inthavong said Yap provided him with the gun and drove the getaway car on both occasions.

Inthavong has agreed to plead guilty to murder, robbery and attempted robbery in a deal with prosecutors that would result in a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

In exchange for Inthavong’s testimony, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ed Consiglio said his office would drop the special-circumstance allegation that would have mandated that Inthavong receive the death penalty or life imprisonment without possibility of parole upon conviction.

The special-circumstance allegation, murder during a robbery, was not filed against Yap, Consiglio said, because the prosecution could not prove that Yap knew that Inthavong intended to kill the clerk. Yap, too, could receive a maximum of about 30 years in prison if convicted.