Trinh Pleads Not Guilty to Hospital Deaths

A 43-year-old man accused of killing three people in a shooting spree at an Anaheim hospital pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that could bring him the death penalty.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Luis A. Rodriquez ordered Dung Trinh held without bail.

Trinh is charged with killing nursing assistant Marlene Mustaffa, 60; pharmacist Vincent Rosetti, 50; and maintenance director Ronald Robertson, 50.

Police said Trinh went on a shooting spree inside West Anaheim Medical Center on Sept. 14, killing three employees and terrifying patients during a chase through hospital corridors. Trinh repeatedly shouted, “You killed my mother,” apparently driven by grief over his mother’s death at another hospital hours before the rampage, officials said.

Trinh’s mother had undergone hip surgery at the Anaheim hospital three months earlier, and Trinh apparently thought the hospital staff there had neglected her. Hospital officials said they reviewed Trinh’s mother’s care and found nothing inappropriate.

None of the three people who died was believed to have had contact with Trinh’s mother, authorities said.

After the hospital rampage, Orange County Dist. Atty. Anthony J. Rackauckas announced that suspects prosecuted for such public crimes would automatically face the death penalty. Trinh is the first person tried under the new prosecution policy.

Trinh’s attorney, Brooks S. Talley, would not say whether he would seek a diminished-capacity defense.

“There are 1,500 to 2,000 pages of discovery we still have to go over,” Talley said. “It’s too early to comment on any of it, except to say this was a terrible tragedy for everyone involved.”