Alleged Shooter Missing From Murder Trial

There is one major component missing from this murder trial. The accused murderer.

The prosecutor and the defense attorney agree that the defendants--Vinh Ta, Hau Ha and Phat Doan--did not fire the shot on Aug. 17, 1994, that killed Robert Sapinoso, the 19-year-old UC Irvine student who had been following their van because he believed they had committed a crime.

Instead, the attorneys told the Orange County Superior Court jury on the trial’s opening day, it’s a case of guilt by association.

Sapinoso was at a friend’s house in Garden Grove that evening when the pair noticed a passing van they believed had been involved in a vandalism incident days earlier.

As they followed in Sapinoso’s car to copy down the van’s license plate number, the gunman got out and opened fire.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robin Park said the defendants were members of a Vietnamese gang who were there to “back up” gunman Huyn Nguyen in case something went wrong.

Even though the defendants didn’t take part in the shooting, they are still culpable in the death, she told jurors.

Defense attorneys for Ta, 21, of Santa Ana, Ha, 22, of Garden Grove, and Doan, 23, of Westminster, told jurors that their clients are unfairly being blamed in the killing. Nguyen acted alone, they said.

“None of them had guns and none of them helped him,” said Ha’s attorney, John Zitny. “When they found out what had happened, they were scared and nervous.”

A fourth defendant who was also in the van, Hoa Le, 20, of Orange, will testify as a witness for the prosecution. Le is being tried separately.

The four defendants face 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

Nguyen, the suspected gunman, is in Canada fighting extradition.