Girlfriend Seen as Key Witness in Cafe Slayings

For two years, Jennifer Dang kept quiet about the midnight shooting at the My Nguyen restaurant in Garden Grove, where gunmen killed two people and wounded four others as they sprayed shots around the crowded dining room. Nor did she talk about the meeting above a liquor store afterward, where she now says the killers excitedly reported their success to her boyfriend.

But the quiet, 19-year-old Vietnamese woman--just 15 at the time of the gangland-style attack--will be a central figure when testimony begins today at the trial of four young men charged with murder in the Nov. 17, 1985, shootings.

Prosecutors contend that violence erupted because a man gazed at Dang from across the restaurant a little too long--and wound up paying for it with his life.

Dang’s testimony, which is certain to be challenged by the defense, is a key part of the prosecution’s case.

While “the look,” as attorneys call it, may have started the trouble, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeoffrey L. Robinson said the gunmen and their leader may have been looking for an excuse to show their power in the Vietnamese community.

On trial before Superior Court Judge Ragnar R. Engebretsen in Newport Beach are Hung Ly, 23, of Fountain Valley; Dat Tien Phan, 19, of Santa Ana; Ninh Xuan Nguyen, 25, of Santa Ana, and Khan Quang Nguyen, 20, of Costa Mesa.

Prosecutors said Ly, Dang’s boyfriend at the time, was the leader who ordered the shootings, while Khan Quang Nguyen, was a lookout. The other two have been identified by witnesses as among the three to four gunmen. Phan has admitted his role in a tape-recorded statement. But it will not be admitted at the trial for legal reasons.

“This shooting might have been Hung Ly’s way of saying: ‘Look what happens when somebody crosses me,’ ” Robinson said last week.

The prosecutor said Ly is the leader of the Pomona Boys--named because some of the group went to school in that city--who viewed themselves more as gangsters muscling in on the entire Vietnamese community than simply a gang staking claim to a small piece of turf.

Authorities said there is also some evidence of a disagreement between the Pomona Boys and the manager of the restaurant.

Randolph K. Driggs, attorney for Ly, acknowledged last week that the evidence against his client makes his defense difficult, especially because of Dang’s testimony.

“We’ve got to get these jurors to ask themselves: ‘Do you really order a bunch of people killed or shot up just because of a look?’ ” Driggs said.

Motive Called ‘Far-Fetched’

As for the prosecution’s theory that the Pomona Boys attacked to show their gang power, Driggs has dismissed that as “far-fetched.”

Six people were originally charged with murder. One, Hour Khen Chour, 21, of Santa Ana, has been granted a separate trial; prosecutors said charges against him will probably be dismissed.

A second defendant, Thanh Van Nguyen, 20, of Santa Ana, was allowed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter for a six-year sentence. As part of the plea agreement, he had to admit that he had been a lookout for the gunmen.

The case against Thanh Van Nguyen had been the weakest of the bunch, Robinson said. “After all the hard work put into this case by the Garden Grove police, we decided it was better to have a sure guarantee he would at least go to prison,” Robinson said.

Though the gunmen were easily recognized by some in the restaurant, it appeared for two years that no arrests would be made. Robinson credits dogged pursuit by Garden Grove police investigators Glenn Overley and Ron Shave, who began working a slim lead that eventually led to the Pomona Boys.

Then, when police contacted Dang, she agreed to cooperate.

Robinson does not criticize the young men and women at the restaurant who did not help police earlier: “There was a lot of fear at work here. These guys (the Pomona Boys) intimidated the Vietnamese community into keeping quiet.”

One witness was beaten up, several others were threatened, Dang received a death threat the day before she testified at a preliminary hearing in June, 1988, and some witnesses remain “scared out of their minds” even now, Robin son said.

But Dang is not the only important witness. Overley and Shave also rounded up several key people who had been dining at the restaurant that night, some of whom knew the gunmen by sight.

Dang is important, however, because of her testimony about what happened after the shooting.

Prosecutors allege in the charges that the attack occurred this way:

* Ly arrived late at night at the Cafe Diem in Garden Grove, where Dang worked with Ha Nguyen and her brother, Giang Nguyen, whose family owned the restaurant. He asked Dang to go out with him. Because she was just 15, the Nguyens’ mother asked them to go too.

The group arrived at the My Nguyen, on Brookhurst Street near Westminster Avenue, and were met by Phan.

* While they were eating, the two women in the group noticed that two young men from Table No. 20 were staring at them. One of the men may have said something flirtatious. Ly’s mood immediately changed. He whispered something to Phan, who then left to make a phone call.

* Several minutes later, they were joined by Ninh Xuan Nguyen. The women said Ly ordered everyone to hurry up and finish eating. A patron at the table next to them testified at the hearing that he heard Ly say, “Hurry up, there’s going to be trouble.”

* The group left the restaurant, but Ninh Xuan Nguyen stayed behind. Ly hurried them into the car, then he stopped to talk to a small group that had gathered in the parking lot. Ly then parked his car on Jennrich Avenue next to the restaurant, and another car pulled alongside. Ly and the driver began talking. One witness in the group has testified in a hearing that Ly said, “They’re still inside.”

Ha Nguyen testified in the hearing that she remembers hearing a popping sound from the restaurant; Dang does not.

* Inside the restaurant, witnesses saw at least three gunmen position themselves at different points. Some of the gunfire was directed at Table 20. Two men there together, Quy Ngoc Nguyen, 25, of Long Beach, and Minh Luu, 23, of Sunnymead, were killed. Four others, including the manager and a busboy, were wounded. Some witnesses said the gunmen also fired several shots at the ceiling before they left.

One witness said later that he heard Ninh Xuan Nguyen talk about throwing the guns away.

* After dropping off the others, Ly took Dang to an office above a liquor store, at Euclid Avenue and 1st Street in Santa Ana. She has listed Phan and Ninh Xuan Nguyen as two of several people who were present above the store. She said they talked excitedly about the shootings. All the conversation was directed at Ly.

Clearly, prosecutor Robinson has alleged, they were reporting back to their leader. Investigators are still trying to track down one, and perhaps two, other gunmen.

Trial’s Cumbersome Logistics

The trial has presented logistical problems. Some defendants speak better English than others. All have agreed to allow a single interpreter to speak into a transmitter. The defendants, who will be wearing headphones during the trial, will all hear him at once.

While the defense attorneys will not discuss their witnesses or strategies, they are certain to challenge the admissibility of what Jennifer Dang said she heard at the follow-up meeting. The problem is that she heard incriminating statements, but she cannot connect specific comments with specific defendants.

“The defense will obviously try to keep it out, but I think we can get enough in to show jurors that this was a meeting of the killers,” Robinson said.