SANTA ANA : Refugee Sentenced for Shooting of Woman
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A Vietnamese refugee was sentenced to 22 years to life in prison Friday for the killing of a woman who was shot as she knelt in prayer at her home.
Tien Van Nguyen, 20, was sentenced Friday by Superior Court Judge William W. Bedsworth for the slaying of Hoang Huyen Ngo during an attempted robbery in May, 1986.
Nguyen was one of five youths who stormed the Ngo home and herded the woman’s husband and children into the living room at gunpoint before the shooting, prosecutors said.
Although the woman was shot by another youth who found her praying in her bedroom, Nguyen was convicted of murder because he participated in a felony that led to the woman’s death.
Defense attorney Julian W. Bailey, who plans to appeal Nguyen’s sentence, said his client should be eligible for parole in 1997.
Three other Vietnamese refugees, ages 12, 13 and 17, were convicted and sentenced to various terms at the California Youth Authority.
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