Court Asked to Halt Execution Set for Feb. 9

Lawyers for condemned murderer Jaturun Siripongs asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to block his Feb. 9 execution and said prosecutors knew that his girlfriend’s sister was his accomplice.

Siripongs, convicted of murdering a Garden Grove food store manager and an employee during a 1981 robbery, has denied being the killer but refused to identify his alleged accomplice. In their filing, his lawyers said they learned last fall that prosecutors had always known of the accomplice.

Defense lawyer Michael Laurence said in court papers that Netnapa “Noon” Vecharungsri, the sister of Siripongs’ girlfriend, committed the killings.

He said Siripongs accompanied her to the robbery as a lookout, went into the market after she failed to come out, and found that she had strangled the manager, Packovan “Pat” Wattanaporn.

After they tied up store employee Quach Nguyen, he struggled to get free and Vecharungsri stabbed him, Laurence said.

Siripongs, 47, of Hawthorne, was caught using Wattanaporn’s credit card.

Vecharungsri testified for the prosecution at his trial.

Prosecutors did not return a call seeking comment about the appeal.

Vecharungsri is in Thailand, Laurence said Thursday. He said Siripongs still has not disclosed her name because he fears harm to his family, also in Thailand.