Bao found guilty of murder
in shooting death of Vu La
■The decision was delayed
because of an injured juror.
BYJOSH FUNK
Despite defense concerns
about disrupted jury delibera
tions, Linh Bao was convicted of
first-degree murder Friday for
shooting another man in
February.
A juror broke her arm in three
places Wednesday night and had
to be hospitalized with the com
pound fracture all day Thursday
while the rest of the panel await
ed her return.
Friday morning, the woman
returned to court with her right
arm in a sling so Lancaster
County District Judge Steven
Bums could determine if deliber
ations could continue.
After questioning the juror
about how much pain she was in
and the circumstances of her
separation from the jury, Burns
allowed the juror to rejoin the
panel to finish deliberating.
Public Defender Tim
Sopinski asked the judge to
declare a mistrial He argued that
the juror’s absence violated the
sequestration, and other jurors
might sympathize to her injury
and not properly consider the
evidence.
Burhs overruled the motion,
saying that he was satisfied that
the woman, who was on 100 mg
of Darvoset, could continue.
The jury then deliberated for
three and a half hours before
finding Bao guilty of first-degree
murder and the use of a weapon
to commit a felony.
Bao was convicted for shoot
ing Vii Hoang La, 37, on Feb. 5. La
was found dead in the driver’s
seat of his car down the street
from Bao’s trailer in the 3700
Comhusker Hwy. trailer park.
Bao, 30, could receive the
death penalty or life in prison for
murder and up to 20 years in
prison on the weapons charge at
his Jan. 3 sentencing.
The jury had the option of
convicting Bao on the lesser
charges of second-degree mur
der or manslaughter.
Deputy County Attorney
Andy Jacobsen would not com
ment on the case because of the
pending sentencing hearing.
Public Defender Tim
Sopinski also refused comment
. Friday.
The jury was sequestered in
two different hotels last week. On
Thursday, they waited in an
empty jury room until 2 p.m. for
word on the injured juror.
Juror Sandra Perman said it
was difficult being away from her
two children. She said the hardest
part of her job was going over “all
the little details” of the case.
At trial, the attorneys argued -
whether Bao shot La in seif
defense or if the shooting was a
deliberate killing.
On Feb. 5, Bao went to a
Vietnamese NewYear’s party with
a friend that night, but he did not
know many other people there.
At the party, Bao got into a
fight with La and two other men,
though it is unclear what started
the disagreement The men were
asked to leave the party.
Bao got a ride home to the
trailer park, and near his home
Bao spotted La’s car following
and jumped out
Bao ran inside his house and
got his .380-caliber handgun, but
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it was unloaded.
Then, Bao got into another
fight with La and the two men
down the street from Bao’s trailer,
and the men struggled over the
gun.
After that struggle, Bao
grabbed the gun from his wife,
who had come outside. He went
back into his trailer to load the
gun.
When Bao returned outside
with the gun, La and the other
men had returned to La's car, but
it is unclear if they were leaving.
Witnesses described Bao
walking toward the car and firing
at least five times. Police found
five shell casings around the car.
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Come see how normal we really are.
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