GUILTY WI - Six deer hunters killed, 2 injured in Sawyer County shooting, 21 Nov 2004

[mysteriew]

Here's hoping that Vang spends the rest of his days behind bars.

I don't remember is this a DP case? If it is, I would think that his testimony would guarentee a DP sentence.

 

[golfmom]

I don't remember is this a DP case? If it is, I would think that his testimony would guarentee a DP sentence.

I'm not 100% sure myst, but I don't think WI has the death penalty.

 

[William N]

Wisconsin doesn't have the death penalty. I doubt that a defendant has ever looked guiltier of what he was charged with due to his own testimony. On the stand he was saying that unarmed people "deserved to die." My own feeling is that Vang was NOT afraid. If he had been truly afraid, he would have slunk off.

 

[Lady GL]

Closing Arguments Underway In Hunter Massacre Trial

Vang: 'If I Don't Shoot Them -- They'll Shoot Me'

POSTED: 10:45 am CDT September 16, 2005
UPDATED: 11:25 am CDT September 16, 2005


HAYWARD, Wis. -- Closing arguments are underway in the Chai Vang trial in Sawyer County.

In her closing, Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager recalled Vang's testimony about how some of the six fatally shot deserved to die, and some didn't.

Lautenschlager said Vang shot the eight, some by ambush, some by chasing them down. She said the trajectory of the bullet, the fact Vang took the scope off his gun to get a better aim and the physical evidence all corroborate the defendant's guilt.

Earlier, Judge Norman Yackel told jurors they could reach one of three verdicts for each of the nine charges -- guilty of first- or second-degree intentional homicide or attempted homicide or not guilty.


http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/4982735/detail.html

 

[Gozgals]

Sep 16, 3:11 PM EDT


Attorneys give closing arguments in Vang trial

By ROBERT IMRIE
Associated Press Writer

Snips from the article

HAYWARD, Wis. (AP) -- A Hmong immigrant hunter, angered because some white hunters called him names and disrespected him for trespassing on their land, gunned six of them down in cold blood as they either watched in disbelief, were ambushed or were trying to flee, a prosecutor told a jury Friday.

--------(Yang was on the property of the hunter. One question comes to mind-Why is it if the hunters, experienced hunters, and quite a few of them, (6 gunned down) were threatening Yang, why did he not get injured? This questions any of the story Yang presents. )

--------(If I'm not mistaken (and I can be) if Mr. Yang was lost, why was he up on the hunters platform on private property? That does not mean he was lost, it means he was there, ready to hunt, hunt what, we are not sure!)

Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager said no one threatened, endangered or injured Vang in the two-minute confrontation Nov. 21 in some isolated northwestern Wisconsin woods.

"He was insulted, rightfully so, but that doesn't give you an excuse for killing six people," Lautenschlager said.

-------(insulted yes, but killing, why? Planned maybe!) or just angry and ready to go off....

The judge gave jurors the legal definition of self-defense and told them that under the law, they must consider whether Vang had "opportunity to retreat with safety."
Associated Press writer Todd Richmond in Hayward contributed to this report.


--------(There is not a death penalty in Wisconsin as stated above, but as in the case of Jeff Dahmar, many feel the need to enforce it, (whether right or wrong) in prison. At this point in time, I have not been convinced any self defense played a part in Yang's decision to fire on these hunters and take innocent lives.)

 

[vanillasky]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/467/5618529.html This article was posted 20 minutes ago.

Vang jury reaches verdict

HAYWARD, WIS -- After deliberating for three hours, a jury of eight women and four men has reached a verdict in the murder case against Chai Soua Vang. The courtroom is filling up and the verdict is expected to be announced this hour.

 

[vanillasky]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/467/5618529.html

HAYWARD, Wis. -- Chai Vang was found guilty of all of the most severe murder counts against him late this afternoon after a jury rejected his argument that he shot and killed the five men and one woman in self-defense.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for three hours before finding Vang, of St. Paul, guilty of six counts of first-degree intentional murder involving use of a dangerous weapon and three counts of first-degree attempted murder with a dangerous weapon. (Although there were two shooting victims who survived, he was convicted of attempting to kill one of them twice, for a total of nine guilty counts.)

Family members of the victims, who packed one side of the courtroom, wept softly and held hands while the verdicts were read. Vang’s family was there too, appearing solemn and sad. Vang, dressed in a green business suit, looked steadily ahead without displaying emotion.

 

[tennessee]

:clap: Thank goodness this murderer wasn't turned free.



JMHO

 

[mysteriew]

I can't say I am suprised. Now to see what the watchdog groups are going to say.

 

[concernedperson]

I can't say I am suprised. Now to see what the watchdog groups are going to say.

He was guilty. No matter what the watch dogs seek.There is a time and a place that we have to say.....Guilty. It isn't a racial matter it is a truth.

 

[mysteriew]

He was guilty. No matter what the watch dogs seek.There is a time and a place that we have to say.....Guilty. It isn't a racial matter it is a truth.

Sadly enough, oftentimes guilt or innocence has little to do with the racial issues. I think the trial was fair, but watchdog groups could really pound on the fact that it was a predominately white jury. The defense has already been screaming about the pros. trying to kick off the two jurors who were text messaging, who happened to be from a minority.

 

[mysteriew]

It took less than three hours for attorneys in the Chai Soua Vang murder case to select the jury. The trial lasted six days and the jury deliberated for three hours before convicting Vang of first-degree murder on all counts.

To Cheu Lee, it all happened too fast.

"If Mr. Vang was white, it would probably take more time," said Lee, owner of Hmong Times, a Hmong newspaper in Vang's home town of St. Paul.

As an all-white jury on Friday announced its guilty verdicts for Vang, some Hmong community members questioned whether Vang received a fair trial, echoing concerns raised by Vang's family. But most agreed he should be held accountable for shooting eight hunters, killing six of them.

"Hmong people will probably arm themselves more," Xiong said. "But I hope that it will also prevent people from making derogatory comments."
http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_259212519.html

 

[golfmom]

"Hmong people will probably arm themselves more," Xiong said. "But I hope that it will also prevent people from making derogatory comments."
http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_259212519.html

I hate that derogatory comments were made, but this is a blame the victims type of statement. Hopefully, people will stay off of private land. Hopefully, people will not hunt people down.

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

Vang has no one to blame but himself. His decision to hunt down & kill these people is what landed his azz in court in the first place. Then when presented with the opportunity to take the stand and say something in order to shed some light on why the horrific events unfolded as they did, the best he can come up with is that they deserved to die? He couldn't control himself on that awful day and he still couldn't control himself up on the stand. Even the threat of an extremely lengthy incarceration couldn't prevent him from displaying that very anger that caused all of this in the first place. The guy was a loose cannon before the murders and he's a loose cannon still. Hopefully prison will teach him some lesssons.

I am thrilled that the jury came to the appropriate verdict and that they did so quickly.

 

[Lady GL]

Vang's family still believes he was justified and right in what he did. He had every right to murder six people because they called him names and racial slurs:

Vang's sister, Chou Vang, said the jury unfairly convicted the family patriarch without considering his plight as he faced a group of hostile hunters.

"They will never understand what my brother went through up there," Vang said. "I'm glad my brother did it, to stand up with pride and defense himself."

"I'm not satisfied with this trial and this court," Vang's uncle, Vang Fong Vang, said. "I feel Mr. Vang is a hero, to be able to defense himself and now he is alive."

A tearful Chou Vang said the hunters who accosted her brother share a responsibility for the horrible aftermath.

"Why didn't they just let him go?" she asked. "They could have prevented this. We know it, you know it and they know it."


http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/sep05/356333.asp

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

"They will never understand what my brother went through up there," Vang said. "I'm glad my brother did it, to stand up with pride and defense himself."

So I guess this kind of attitude runs in the family. What a shame we can't throw him in jail, too. Six people brutally gunned down, and this sick bastard is proud of his brother? Maybe it's no wonder Vang turned out to be the murderer that he is? :waitasec:

 

[William N]

Could Vang's relatives inform us what kind of justice system exists where the Hmong came from?

 

[mysteriew]

I hate that derogatory comments were made, but this is a blame the victims type of statement. Hopefully, people will stay off of private land. Hopefully, people will not hunt people down.

Golfmom, that quote was only a part of the quote from the article. Unfortunately, it looks as though things may get explosive, if the full quote is any indication.

"Given that he thought his life was in danger, you'd think that would weigh in at some extent," said Lee Pao Xiong, director of the Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University in St. Paul.

Xiong will go hunting this fall, as usual, but plans to be more cautious in the woods. He said he's been harassed before by white hunters.

"Hmong people will probably arm themselves more," Xiong said. "But I hope that it will also prevent people from making derogatory comments." http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_259212519.html

 

[mysteriew]

Messages bearing anti-Hmong sentiments made their way to the Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans' office Friday, the same day Chai Soua Vang was found guilty in the deaths of six Wisconsin hunters and a day after he testified that three deserved to die.

The faxes and e-mails contained racial slurs and called Hmong people "trash," said Ilean Her, the council's executive director. She got a handful of the offensive messages. All were sent anonymously.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/12671074.htm

 

[mysteriew]

And William Bremer of Madison served as jury foreman.

"I'll never forget ths incident that I wasn't party to back in November, butt by some fate, or whatever that I was called upon to a civic duty and did it." Bremer tells us. "This will stay with me, it's one of those rare life moments."

Bremer says Vang could have walked away after the hunters angrily confronted him for trespassing. He also says he believed Vang changed his story in court.
http://nbc15.madison.com/news/headlines/1722856.html