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The Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project, Inc. |
Spreading the Word of the Cambodian Genocide DATE=4/16/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-229782
TITLE=HAING NGOR VERDICT (L)
BYLINE=MIKE O'SULLIVAN
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: THREE MEMBERS OF AN ASIAN-AMERICAN YOUTH GANG HAVE BEEN
FOUND GUILTY OF KILLING HAING NGOR, THE CAMBODIAN DOCTOR AND
ACTOR WHO FOUND FAME FOR HIS ROLE IN THE FILM "THE KILLING
FIELDS." MIKE O'SULLIVAN REPORTS THE CASE WAS UNUSUAL IN THAT
THREE SEPARATE JURIES DECIDED THE FATE OF THE DEFENDANTS..
TEXT: PROSECUTORS SAY THE THREE MEMBERS OF THE "ORIENTAL LAZY
BOYZ" STREET GANG -- JASON CHAN, INDRA LIM, AND TAK SUN TAN --
WERE SEEKING A VICTIM THAT SUNDAY NIGHT TWO YEARS AGO.
ACCOMPLISHED THIEVES, THEY ROUTINELY STOLE JEWELRY, WHICH THEY
SOLD FOR MONEY TO BUY DRUGS.
THE THREE SAW HAING NGOR DRIVE INTO THE OPEN CARPORT OF HIS
CHINATOWN APARTMENT. THEY CONFRONTED HIM AT GUNPOINT, TOOK HIS
SIX-THOUSAND-DOLLAR ROLEX WATCH, AND SHOT HIM WHEN HE REFUSED TO
TURN OVER A LOCKET WITH A PICTURE OF HIS LATE WIFE. HAING NGOR'S
WIFE DIED IN CHILDBIRTH IN CAMBODIA.
THREE SEPARATE JURIES HEARD THE CASE, AND ALL AGREED WITH THAT
VERSION OF EVENTS. AS THE VERDICTS WERE READ THURSDAY MORNING,
EACH DEFENDANT WAS FOUND GUILTY OF PREMEDITATED, FIRST-DEGREE
MURDER, AND SECOND-DEGREE ROBBERY. THE JURIES COULD NOT
DETERMINE WHICH MAN USED THE FIREARM.
ONE DEFENSE ATTORNEY SAYS SHE IS SHOCKED AT THE VERDICTS.
DEFENSE LAWYERS POINTED OUT THAT SOME THREE-THOUSAND-DOLLARS IN
CASH WAS LEFT IN THE LUXURY CAR AFTER THE SHOOTING, WHICH WOULD
BE UNLIKELY IN THE CASE OF ROBBERY. AND TWO WITNESSES WHO
INITIALLY SAID THEY SAW THE DEFENDANTS RUN FROM THE SCENE LATER
CHANGED THEIR STORY.
PROSECUTOR CRAIG HUM RESPONDED THAT THE WITNESSES WERE OBVIOUSLY
FRIGHTENED, AND SUGGESTED THEY WERE INTIMIDATED BY GANG MEMBERS.
AND HE SAID THE THREE THIEVES WERE LOOKING FOR JEWELRY, NOT
MONEY.
HAING NGOR WAS ACTIVE IN THE CAMBODIAN REFUGEE COMMUNITY, AND
THERE WERE RUMORS THE KILLING WAS A POLITICAL ASSASSINATION. BUT
NO EVIDENCE WAS PRESENTED IN COURT SUPPORTING THAT THEORY.
HAING NGOR ESCAPED FROM CAMBODIA IN 1980, AND WON AN ACADEMY
AWARD FOR HIS ROLE AS A PHOTOJOURNALIST IN A 1984 FILM -- "THE
KILLING FIELDS" -- WHICH DEPICTED THE CAMBODIAN GENOCIDE.
THE THREE MEN CONVICTED OF THE KILLING FACE POSSIBLE SENTENCES OF
LIFE IN PRISON. SENTENCING IS SCHEDULED FOR MAY 19TH. (SIGNED)
NEB/MO/MMK
16-Apr-98 3:49 PM EDT (1949 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America |
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