Local News in Brief : Westminster : Ex-Vietnamese Marine Sentenced in 2 Slayings

A former South Vietnamese marine lieutenant was sentenced Friday to 14 years in prison for fatally shooting two men outside a Westminster liquor store.

The defense attorney had argued that Cuong M. Cao, 38, who was the “equivalent of a Green Beret in South Vietnam,” first shot the young men in self-defense. Then “postwar trauma stress syndrome” caused him to fire more rounds into their heads, Cao’s attorney, Jeff Gray, said.

Denny Wayne Spradlin, 20, of Fountain Valley and Joe Seven Wilson, 21, of Westminster were shot to death Feb. 13 outside the liquor store after Spradlin reportedly directed racial slurs at Cao and his Vietnamese friends.

Gray said the two young men taunted and insulted the Vietnamese, rifled their bags and tried to block the exit. When Wilson pulled out a long black metal object--later identified as a flashlight--Cao grabbed his friend’s gun and shot the two men in the chest. He then shot each in the head.

A jury found Cao guilty of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

Gray on Friday asked Orange County Superior Court Judge Ragnar R. Engebretson for leniency. Gray said Cao had worked 11 years at the same job, had saved enough to bring other family members here from Vietnam and had never been in trouble.

Cao received the maximum sentence.