Viet Boys, 12 and 13, Guilty of Murdering Praying Mother of 14

Two Vietnamese boys who admitted participating in a robbery two months ago in which a Santa Ana mother of 14 children was shot to death were convicted of first-degree murder Tuesday in Juvenile Court after offering no defense.

The boys, 12 and 13 years old, admitted in taped confessions to police that on May 5 they and three other masked gunmen stormed into the home of Trung Ngo and his wife, Huyen Thi Hoang, where the couple lived with their 14 children.

The 46-year-old woman was killed by one of the gunmen while praying in her bedroom, away from other family members who had been rounded up and ordered into their living room.

Police are still searching for Sau Van Le, 14, of Garden Grove who is accused of actually shooting the woman. Trial is pending for two other young men charged with murder and robbery, Dun Nguyen, 17, and Tien Van Nguyen, 20, both of Garden Grove.

The two convicted Tuesday, 12-year-old Quoc Kien Ngo and 13-year-old Man Huynh, both of Anaheim, will be sent to the California Youth Authority, where the average stay in juvenile murder convictions is about six years.

“It’s sad,” said Dennis McNerney, attorney for Ngo. “Peer group pressure gets to these Vietnamese kids. They want to impress people, so they get some guns and they get involved in something like this.”

The two in court Tuesday denied in their confessions that they had guns, but family members interviewed by officers said all of the intruders were masked and armed.

The two juveniles who confessed said that Sau Van Le told them he shot the woman by accident after she screamed and startled him. All five of the gunmen fled the house empty-handed after the shooting.

The police investigation led to the other juveniles after Man Huynh’s mother called police and said her son told her he was involved.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jill Roberts called the crime “a highly aggravated case” and pointed to family statements that the gunmen had threatened several times to kill some of the children if they didn’t do as they were told.

“A family is watching television at night and in a few minutes are completely terrorized,” Roberts said.

Ten years ago, the family and six others fled Vietnam in a rickety boat, which Ngo had built, and floated for five days before it sank just off the Malaysian coast. They were rescued hours later by a Korean ship.

At the time of the shooting, the father was laid off of his job. One of the daughters described her mother as “a housewife . . . all she did was cook and clean and take care of her children.” Family members said she also was devoted to saying her nightly prayers.

McNerney contends that the two Vietnamese juveniles in court on Tuesday did not understand when they confessed to police that they could be found guilty of murder if they admitted their part in the robbery.

Under state law, all participants in a felony can be held for murder if it results in anyone’s death.

After the boys’ taped confessions were heard by Superior Court Judge Donald M. McCartin, who sits in Juvenile Court, the prosecution rested. Attorneys for the two boys offered no defense and made no closing arguments.

“What was there to argue?” McNerney said. “We tried to keep the confessions out; once we lost that, it was a clear case of felony murder.”

McNerney said the two juveniles are sorry that the woman was shot but that he hasn’t seen much sign of remorse from them about the robbery.

The defense lawyers asked that their clients be sent directly to the California Youth Authority. But at prosecutor Roberts’ request, the judge ordered a probation report. The two will return Aug. 8 for sentencing to the Youth Authority.

“Maybe there they can get some kind of education, learn to improve their English and maybe learn some kind of trade,” McNerney said. “At least it will keep them away from their neighborhood gangs for a while.”