Key Witness Testifies in Alleged Street-Gang Slayings

Truong Dinh quietly slipped into a courtroom under police guard Tuesday, his eyes darting from the seven defendants who sat before him to the prosecutor who was about to ask the questions that could end with the death penalty for five of them.

The slight, 23-year-old man is a gang member-turned state’s evidence, the key witness in the murder trial of seven defendants accused of being in the Asian Boyz street gang. Because the last gang member to agree to testify against the Asian Boyz was shot to death the day before his scheduled courtroom appearance, authorities were taking no chances Tuesday.

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department, some in assault gear, lined up outside the courthouse. Dinh entered and left the courtroom through back hallways.

Dinh was visibly nervous as he stepped up to the witness stand and testified that all the defendants were gang members--something many of them vehemently deny. He described how they ambushed rivals on Tet, the Lunar New Year in 1995, shooting at them with handguns and assault rifles.

Two were killed in that attack, and Dinh identified the gang members who shot them. As he testified, the accused sat in casual shirts, displaying no emotion, in a row behind their lawyers.

Those slayings were the first of seven that Deputy Dist. Atty. Laura Baird said the gang committed in a 1995 crime rampage, including 18 alleged attempted murders and five suspected instances of conspiring to commit murder.

Son Thanh Bui, 22, David Evangalista, 23, Bunthoeun Roeung, 22, Sothi Menh, 23, Roatha Buth, 26, Kimorn Nuth,19, and Ky Tony Ngo, 22, have pleaded not guilty to all charges, murder and otherwise, against them.

“We are here today because seven people were brutally gunned down,” Baird said. “They were killed by various members of the Asian Boyz gang.”

The Asian Boyz gang was made up of Cambodia, Vietnamese and Filipino members whose families had immigrated in the 1970s. They are accused of follow-home and home-invasion robberies in which they mainly targeted members of their own ethnic communities.

In her opening statements, Baird outlined the details of the crimes. She wove a tale of gang members carrying two and three weapons, firing assault rifles and initiating a variety of car-to-car shootings.

Through their lawyers, many of the defendants have denied gang affiliation--some were college students at the time the crimes were committed. One, David Evangalista, was an A student, hospital volunteer and worked delivering jewelry at the time he was accused of involvement in the gang.

The crimes for which the defendants are on trial:

* The April 14, 1995, shooting outside the Valerio Gardens apartment complex in Van Nuys in which Miguel Limon and Armando Estrada were killed and bystander Irene Petit was injured.

* The July 23, 1995, shooting at two carloads of youths the Asian Boyz allegedly believed to be gang members. No one was killed.

* The shooting of two men in the West Valley, also on July 23, 1995. In an automobile, Rogelio Ferman was killed in the shooting and his passenger, whose identity is unknown, fled.

* The Aug. 1, 1995, shooting in El Monte of four men the Asian Boyz allegedly thought were members of a rival Asian gang. Killed were Cheng Peng, Paul Vu and Ben Liao. Michael Fortescue was shot but survived.

* The Aug. 26, 1995, shooting of a carload of teens on their way home after celebrating a birthday at a family fun center. Oscar Palis was killed in the attack.

* The Sept. 25, 1995, shooting of Robinson Mata as he waited for the security gate outside his girlfriend’s apartment complex on Topanga Canyon Boulevard to open.

Four defense lawyers briefly addressed jurors as the trial opened, stressing the complexity of the case and attacking Dinh’s credibility.

Aside from deciding who’s telling the truth, jurors will also have to keep straight who was charged in what and which piece of evidence goes to what charge and which defendant, defense attorney Morton Borenstein said.

“It’s a complex matter, and you as jurors are going to have the task of judging those facts and keeping them separate in your mind,” said Borenstein, who is defending the alleged gang leader, Mehn. “That’s going to be a problem for you.”

“Each defendant is entitled to your individual attention,” said Arlene Binder, attorney for Ngo.

Daniel Nardoni, Bui’s lawyer, focused on Dinh, saying the gang member was involved in every one of the crimes and has changed his testimony at least four times, further implicating the defendants each time.

“It didn’t take him long to negotiate with the government, to negotiate with the police,” Nardoni said.