Attempted Murder

I am shocked and dismayed by the contempt which Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald recently displayed for the rule of law in the case of Be Tu Van Tran, who had admitted trying to kill a fellow member of the Vietnamese Refugee Committee who was perceived to be “soft on communism.”

If newspaper accounts of the affair are accurate, Judge Fitzgerald has indicated to Mr. Tran’s attorneys that Tran will face only a few months in jail and probation in return for his guilty plea to the charge of attempted murder.

Perhaps it has escaped the judge’s comprehension, but Tran has admitted that he attempted to murder a fellow human being simply because that person disagreed with Tran’s political beliefs. In other words, Tran is a terrorist and would-be assassin. His actions are the actions of a death-squad goon.

Leniency sends a clear message to fanatical elements of refugee communities that political violence and murder will be tolerated as long as it is directed at those perceived to be “friends” of foreign regimes “unfriendly” to the U.S.

I pray that this shameful justice will be decried by all Americans who respect the rule of law and order in society and who cherish the freedom and diversity of political opinion, which makes our democracy great. Without the ability to express these divergent opinions without fear, we will sink to a level of the repressive dictatorships of the right and left, where unpopular opinions are punished with coercion, torture and death.

THOMAS K. MAJOR

Long Beach