WESTMINSTER : Man Convicted of Murder, Holdup Try

A 26-year-old man was convicted Monday of four counts of attempted robbery, one charge of false imprisonment and first-degree murder in the holdup of a Little Saigon fabric store.

The murder charge against Dung Van Mai involved the death of his partner, who was fatally shot by an employee during the robbery attempt.

The jury returned the verdicts against Mai after two days of deliberations in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.

Prosecutors filed the murder charge against Mai for his role in the June 28 incident that ended in the death of Bao Hoang Lau, 27, of San Gabriel. Under state law, a defendant can be charged with murder if, during the course of a crime, his actions and behavior aggravate the situation and incite deadly force.

“It’s a tough law and the jury struggled, but they followed the law,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeoffrey L. Robinson said. “I feel justice was done even though it was a tough kind of justice.”

During the two-week trial, Mai’s attorney, Matthew S. Vallance, acknowledged that his client was “guilty as sin” of trying to rob the store, but he insisted that Mai was not to blame for his partner’s death.

Prosecutors, however, contended that Mai’s violent behavior during the attempted robbery provoked the victims into defending themselves and led to Lau’s death.

Robinson noted during the trial that Mai walked into the family-run fabric business on Bolsa Avenue and kicked and pistol-whipped store employees and the owner, Ly Nguyen, while shouting: “I’m going to shoot you! I’m going to kill!”

Robinson argued that the victims thought that they were going to be executed and that Thanh Nguyen, a son of the owner, responded by struggling with Mai in an attempt to take his gun and save the family.

As Thanh Nguyen fought with Mai, another son, Quy, went for a gun hidden in a desk drawer. He fatally shot Lau, who also had a gun, then shot Mai, the prosecutor said.

Mai is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 17.