Strangler of Ex-Girlfriend Gets 15 to Life

A Garden Grove man found guilty of strangling his former girlfriend received a sentence Friday of 15 years to life after a judge reduced his first-degree murder conviction to second-degree murder.

Hank Thuc Nguyen, 42, was convicted by a jury in May of the Oct. 24, 1990, slaying of Tina Pham, a 42-year-old mother of three, largely on the evidence of tiny bite marks on the defendant’s left thumb.

During Nguyen’s sentencing hearing Friday, Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald granted a defense request to have the conviction reduced to second-degree murder.

Fitzgerald ruled that the murder was not premeditated, but was rather a spontaneous act.

“It was a close case,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeoffrey L. Robinson, who prosecuted Nguyen. “Even in my closing arguments to the jury, I said this may be no more than a second-degree case.”

Robinson added that although he was “initially disappointed” with the judge’s decision, he does not “have a quarrel with what he’s done.”

Nguyen’s attorney, Barry Otto Bernstein, could not be reached for comment.

The second-degree charge reduced by 10 years a potential 25-years-to-life sentence that Nguyen faced for first-degree murder.

During the trial, Robinson had argued that Nguyen was a “spurned lover” who killed Pham because he was angry she had ended their relationship. As the former building contractor started to strangle Pham, she managed to bite down on his thumb, scarring him with what later became the most crucial evidence against him, the prosecutor said.

Police initially believed that Pham, who was found dead on the bathroom floor of her Garden Grove apartment, died of a heart attack because there were few signs of a struggle or of forced entry into her home. Heart medication she had been taking was also found nearby. But an autopsy later determined the cause of death was strangulation.

Shortly after police began their investigation into Pham’s death, they focused on Nguyen, whom the victim’s family said had continued to try and contact her even after their breakup.

When a pair of Garden Grove police detectives went to question Nguyen, they noticed the apparent bite marks on his thumb, which eventually led to his arrest.

Nguyen maintained during the trial that he was at a hardware store at the time of Pham’s death and had sustained the injury to his thumb when he pinched it on a bucket handle.