WESTMINSTER : Inmate Faces Rape, Murder Trial in O.C.

A man already serving a life sentence in Missouri was ordered on Monday to stand trial for the 1989 rape and murder of a Fountain Valley woman.

Timothy Lee DePriest, 31, of San Bernardino was ordered to appear in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana on Feb. 18 for arraignment on rape and murder charges stemming from the slaying of Hong Thi Nguyen.

If he is found guilty, he can receive the death penalty.

Nguyen, 30, was found naked and unconscious Dec. 17, 1989, in a vacant lot near the Garden Grove bridal shop where she worked as a seamstress. She was taken to a hospital but died. She had been shot once in the head with a small-caliber pistol.

Police alleged that DePriest then took Nguyen’s car, drove to Missouri and used her credit cards to buy $600 in clothing.

DePriest was captured in Missouri after he sexually assaulted a woman in her home and shot and injured a Springfield, Mo., police officer during a chase. He was sentenced to life plus 57 years in prison. DePriest’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender William Kelley, called the decision by Orange County prosecutors to extradite his client and seek capital punishment in California “idiotic,” citing the costs involved.

Kelley said the cost for DePriest’s trial could run from $3 million to $5 million.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans has said that a life sentence is no guarantee that DePriest would stay in jail for the remainder of his life.

When DePriest, who is in Orange County Jail, was extradited to California, Evans said: “If there ever was a defendant that was suited for the death penalty, it is DePriest.”