Killer of CHP Officer Throws Tirade in Court

Jurors and the family of slain CHP Officer Don J. Burt were confronted anew with the reservoir of rage in Burt’s killer when he toppled the defense table in a profanity-filled tirade Monday before seven deputies wrestled him to the floor.

Hung Thanh Mai, whose hands and arms were shackled to his waist, tried to kick the bailiffs as they dragged him from the courtroom in a chokehold.

A few minutes before, Mai had hissed and sworn at two witnesses, including Mark Baker, a former Anaheim neighbor who recounted how Mai once threatened him.

“I should have killed [you] . . . that is what I should have done,” Mai told a pale Baker, who faced him a few feet away. Last week, Mai taunted the dead trooper’s family, saying, “I’d do it again.”

Mai pleaded guilty to killing the 25-year-old officer in a Fullerton parking lot. The trial, in its final phase in Orange County Superior Court, is to decide whether he should die for his crime or spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Mai was ejected during testimony by the second witness, Robert Bashand, a car dealer who recounted being kidnapped by Mai and an accomplice. Mai was allowed to return to the courtroom after a brief recess Monday, but only after promising Superior Court Judge Richard L. Weatherspoon that he would behave. Mai sat, his glance downcast, as he listened to the emotional testimony of Burt’s family.

Burt was killed on July 13, 1996, during a routine traffic stop near a Coco’s restaurant, after Burt found counterfeit traveler’s checks in the trunk of Mai’s car. Mai shot Burt seven times, delivering the final bullet execution-style to the head.

“I loved him,” said his father, Don Burt Sr., a retired California Highway Patrol officer. “He was my best friend. We were getting to the point where we could be equal. Not father and son, but buddies--talking about work and kids.”

The elder Burt wept during his poignant testimony, and jurors passed a tissue box around.

Burt relived some of his happiest memories with his son: Don and Kristin’s wedding, and the day Don told him he was going to be a grandfather. But the proudest moment for both father and son was when Don joined the Highway Patrol.

“I pinned on his badge and I hugged him,” the father said, tearfully. “The proudest I’d ever seen him. The gleam he had in his eye--he was so proud.”

Kristin Burt said she was seven months pregnant with their first child when her husband of nearly three years was killed. She took the stand Monday, faltering as she described how the coroner told her that her husband was dead.

“[The coroner] held my hand and slipped [Don’s] wedding ring into my hand,” Kristin Burt said.

Mai was convicted in July without a trial as part of a deal with federal prosecutors, who had charged him with weapons dealing and plotting the death of one of the witnesses in the murder case.

Jurors are to return to court Wednesday to hear any mitigating circumstances from the defense. But his attorneys said Mai is not interested in presenting any defense.