O.C. Jury Votes Death for Hate Crime Murder

In Orange County’s first capital murder case involving a hate crime, a jury on Thursday recommended the death penalty for a 22-year-old Tustin man who randomly chose a victim to knife and rob based on the color of his skin.

The jury’s decision culminated a dramatic four-week trial that centered on the disturbing and graphic details of the killing of a young Vietnamese American honor student. Thien Minh Ly and Gunner Lindberg, the leader of a fledgling white supremacist gang, crossed paths on an unlit tennis court one night, a chance encounter that ended in murder.

Lindberg showed no emotion as the jury of nine women and three men recommended that he receive the death penalty for slashing to death Ly, 24, as the victim was in-line skating at Tustin High School in January 1996.

The panel’s decision was hailed by the prosecution and human rights leaders as a powerful message against racial violence. But it brought little solace to the family of the victim, who was a former president of the UCLA Vietnamese Student Assn.

“If this is the worst sentence society can impose on him, then he deserves it,” Ly’s mother, Dao Huynh, said outside court. “But this does not mean it is justice for my family. It will never be justice for us. He could die a million times and it will not be able to make up for the death of our son.”

Jurors were quickly escorted out a back door of the courtroom. One juror later said the panel took several votes during three days of deliberations and that emotions ran high at times.

“It was a very, very difficult decision,” said the juror, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and said that eventually the panel was swayed by the cold-blooded brutality of the crime.

“The verdict did not come easy. There was lots of emotion. But . . . it was a just verdict.” the juror said. “I don’t understand how someone could do something of this nature.”

The juror said the fact that the defendant and the victim were about the same age and had chosen such different paths in life was not lost on the emotional panel.

“It was almost like good versus evil,” the juror said. “The victim’s mom and dad wanted the very best for their family and the defendant chose another path at an early age for whatever reason.”

Ly was a recent graduate of Georgetown University and was visiting his family’s Tustin home when he was confronted by Lindberg. He was stabbed more than 50 times, including 14 wounds to the heart.

The defendant, an outspoken white supremacist, later bragged about enjoying the crime in a rambling letter in which he wrote: “I killed a Jap.”

Lindberg was convicted by the same jury last month of first-degree murder and so-called “special circumstance” allegations that the killing took place during a robbery and while committing a hate crime, charges that made him eligible for the death penalty.

The defendant’s friend, 18-year-old Domenic Christopher, was convicted of first-degree murder last April for his role in the killing and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Lindberg will be formally sentenced Dec. 12 by Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald.

Although specific numbers were not available, the California District Attorneys Assn. said Wednesday’s verdict was extraordinary.

“It’s very rare that we see a death verdict returned based on the special circumstance of a hate crime,” said Larry Brown, the association’s executive director.

The reading of the verdict marked the first time Lindberg had appeared in the courtroom not wearing a faded blue and white Dallas Cowboy jersey. He had worn the same jersey each day of the four-week trial, something prosecutor Debbie Lloyd found particularly offensive since Ly was killed on the day the Cowboys won the Super Bowl.

Instead, Lindberg wore an Orange County Jail jumpsuit.

The prosecutor said she was relieved at the verdict, especially for the sake of the victim’s family, who faithfully attended each day of Lindberg’s and Christopher’s trials.

“In this case, there is so much pain in the family,” Lloyd said. “The verdict doesn’t ease the pain but it does at least give them some small amount of satisfaction that even though their son is dead, some justice was done.”

The veteran prosecutor said that of the many cases she has handled, this was “one of the most aggravating” and the evidence found clearly made it a hate crime. “When you kill someone for the fun of it or just because of their race, I think that just makes it harder to understand and it makes you more angry at the killer because of the senselessness of it,” she said after the verdict.

Lindberg’s attorney, David Zimmerman, stormed out of the courthouse waving his arms and shouting in anger.

He said the jury’s decision was especially wrong because there remained a “lingering doubt” as to whether Lindberg intended to rob Ly, or whether the victim was chosen because of his race--the specific allegations that warrant the death penalty.

During the trial, Zimmerman did not deny that his client killed Ly, but insisted that the motivation was not racial hatred or robbery.

Zimmerman told the jury his client had a troubled childhood and his life deserved to be spared.

Because of its hate crime element, the case was being watched closely by the Orange County Human Relations Commission and the local Vietnamese community.

Commission Chairman Rusty Kennedy said that although he is personally opposed to the death penalty, “the fact that this man was convicted of this heinous crime and given the maximum penalty is good. I do think it’s going to send a message to other purveyors of hate in our community and across the nation that we take this very seriously.

“It was an incredibly disgusting tale of torture and mutilation,” Kennedy added. “There’s no question this is a sick act of a really troubled mind.”

Human Relations Commissioner Ken Inouye, who had met with Ly’s family on several occasions, said the killing was particularly tragic in light of the victim’s accomplishments as a student and his promising future.

“It’s very ironic that such a fine man should be taken from us in such a heinous manner,” Inouye said.

Extra courtroom security was evident throughout the trial, which was littered with testimony about Lindberg’s violent history and his association with white supremacist groups.

Bailiffs were stationed outside the courtroom and during the first week of trial, all courtroom observers were required to pass through a metal detector.

The heaviest security was in place during the days that Lindberg’s cousin, Walter Ray Dulaney, testified for the prosecution.

Dulaney told jurors he was frightened of his cousin, especially after he said he was shot and wounded in Missouri by a man who warned him against testifying.

Lindberg’s letter detailing the crime was sent to Dulaney, whose wife later turned it over to police. The cousins--best friends and founding members of the “Insane Criminal Posse”--also spoke on the telephone about the killing that Lindberg had boasted was “better than a drug,” Dulaney testified.

It was the rambling four-page letter that led police to make an arrest in the case. It was filled with details about the Ly murder that police said revealed knowledge that only the killer could possess.

The trial brought to light a string of violent acts committed by Lindberg dating back to when he was 13 years old. A series of witnesses took the stand during the trial’s penalty phase to describe violence committed by Lindberg against them.

The prosecutor pointed to these incidents as she told jurors that Lindberg had “crossed the line” too often in his short life and deserved the death penalty.

The juror interviewed Thursday said the presence of Ly’s family in the courtroom each day and the emotional victim impact testimony of his younger brother, Thai Ly, were difficult to forget.

“I would have liked to have met them,” the juror said of Ly’s family. “I just wanted to tell them how sorry I was.”

* FAMILY’S GRIEF FRESH: The victim’s relatives still can’t cope with his violent end. A24