rtryb2200
09-16-2005, 10:23 PM
HAYWARD - A 36-year-old St. Paul man was convicted Friday afternoon of
killing six people and wounding two others in a shooting spree last year.
A Dane County jury of eight women and four men deliberated about 3˝ hours
before rending its verdict in Sawyer County Court.
Judge Norman Yackel read the nine verdicts while Chai Soua Vang sat almost
expressionless with his defense attorneys. Yackel then polled jury members
individually, who said those were their verdicts.
Vang was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of Al
Laski, Jessica Willers, Robert Crotteau, Joey Crotteau, Mark Roidt and
Dennis Drew, and the attempted murder of Terry Willers and Lauren Hesebeck, with two attempts on Willers. All were from the Rice Lake area.
Vang, a Hmong immigrant who admitted he shot the people, will receive a
mandatory life sentence.
.
This one explains the case to those that might not have heard about it
HAYWARD (AP) — A Minnesota truck driver cannot reasonably claim he was defending himself when he opened fire on a group of hunters, killing six and wounding two others, Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager said Friday in the man’s murder trial.
Chai Soua Vang ambushed some of the victims and chased down one of them, Lautenschlager said in her closing arguments.
Lautenschlager detailed how each victim was shot and the damage each bullet did to their bodies. She reminded jurors Vang testified he felt two of the victims deserved to die because they called him names.
“The physical evidence and the witness statements speak for themselves,” Lautenschlager said.
Vang, who testified Thursday, said he fired at the group of hunters because he feared for his life. At one point during his testimony, he pretended to hold a rifle as he told jurors how he gunned down the victims — but he claimed it was only after a shot was fired at him.
Vang, a 36-year-old Hmong immigrant from St. Paul, Minn., said the shootings happened after one of the white hunters used profanities and racial slurs when angrily confronting him for trespassing in a tree stand used to hunt deer Nov. 21.
He insisted he killed the hunters in self-defense, although the two survivors of the shootings testified earlier that only one shot was fired at Vang, and that was after he had already shot some of the victims.
Vang’s attorney, Steven Kohn, opened his closing arguments by telling jurors the trial was not a trial about the Hmong community or Wisconsin’s hunting culture, but about what happened when specific individuals confronted each other in the woods.
Lautenschlager reminded jurors Friday how Vang testified he charged at the hunting group, firing.
“It was the defendant who started the shooting. ... That’s not self-defense. ... He was allowed to walk away,” Lautenschlager said. “He was told they would report him to law enforcement. They didn’t say, ’We’re going to shoot you.”’
Lautenschlager said Vang had military training that taught him how to shoot people dead.
Vang never said he actually saw any guns other than the one held by one of the surviving hunters, Terry Willers, she said.
She said Vang ambushed two hunters who arrived to help their friends, and he chased Joey Crotteau down and shot him as he yelled for help.
Before the closing arguments started, the judge gave jurors the option Friday of finding the man guilty on lesser homicide charges. Vang was charged with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of attempted homicide.
Sawyer County Circuit 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.
A first-degree intentional homicide charge carries a mandatory life term. If convicted, Vang would face up to 65 years in prison on each second-degree intentional homicide charge.
The judge denied a defense request to give the jury the option of finding Vang guilty of an even lesser charge, reckless homicide.
For the sixth day, the courtroom was packed with about 100 people, most of them relatives and friends of the victims. Vang, dressed in a business suit, sat at the defense table in front of about two rows of family and friends.
Ten women and four men were picked for the jury, but after closing arguments two will become alternates and 12 jurors will decide the case. The jury came from Dane County because of pretrial publicity in Sawyer County.
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.”
This case only lasted approx one week in court with the jurors deciding in less then two hours
killing six people and wounding two others in a shooting spree last year.
A Dane County jury of eight women and four men deliberated about 3˝ hours
before rending its verdict in Sawyer County Court.
Judge Norman Yackel read the nine verdicts while Chai Soua Vang sat almost
expressionless with his defense attorneys. Yackel then polled jury members
individually, who said those were their verdicts.
Vang was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of Al
Laski, Jessica Willers, Robert Crotteau, Joey Crotteau, Mark Roidt and
Dennis Drew, and the attempted murder of Terry Willers and Lauren Hesebeck, with two attempts on Willers. All were from the Rice Lake area.
Vang, a Hmong immigrant who admitted he shot the people, will receive a
mandatory life sentence.
.
This one explains the case to those that might not have heard about it
HAYWARD (AP) — A Minnesota truck driver cannot reasonably claim he was defending himself when he opened fire on a group of hunters, killing six and wounding two others, Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager said Friday in the man’s murder trial.
Chai Soua Vang ambushed some of the victims and chased down one of them, Lautenschlager said in her closing arguments.
Lautenschlager detailed how each victim was shot and the damage each bullet did to their bodies. She reminded jurors Vang testified he felt two of the victims deserved to die because they called him names.
“The physical evidence and the witness statements speak for themselves,” Lautenschlager said.
Vang, who testified Thursday, said he fired at the group of hunters because he feared for his life. At one point during his testimony, he pretended to hold a rifle as he told jurors how he gunned down the victims — but he claimed it was only after a shot was fired at him.
Vang, a 36-year-old Hmong immigrant from St. Paul, Minn., said the shootings happened after one of the white hunters used profanities and racial slurs when angrily confronting him for trespassing in a tree stand used to hunt deer Nov. 21.
He insisted he killed the hunters in self-defense, although the two survivors of the shootings testified earlier that only one shot was fired at Vang, and that was after he had already shot some of the victims.
Vang’s attorney, Steven Kohn, opened his closing arguments by telling jurors the trial was not a trial about the Hmong community or Wisconsin’s hunting culture, but about what happened when specific individuals confronted each other in the woods.
Lautenschlager reminded jurors Friday how Vang testified he charged at the hunting group, firing.
“It was the defendant who started the shooting. ... That’s not self-defense. ... He was allowed to walk away,” Lautenschlager said. “He was told they would report him to law enforcement. They didn’t say, ’We’re going to shoot you.”’
Lautenschlager said Vang had military training that taught him how to shoot people dead.
Vang never said he actually saw any guns other than the one held by one of the surviving hunters, Terry Willers, she said.
She said Vang ambushed two hunters who arrived to help their friends, and he chased Joey Crotteau down and shot him as he yelled for help.
Before the closing arguments started, the judge gave jurors the option Friday of finding the man guilty on lesser homicide charges. Vang was charged with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of attempted homicide.
Sawyer County Circuit 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.
A first-degree intentional homicide charge carries a mandatory life term. If convicted, Vang would face up to 65 years in prison on each second-degree intentional homicide charge.
The judge denied a defense request to give the jury the option of finding Vang guilty of an even lesser charge, reckless homicide.
For the sixth day, the courtroom was packed with about 100 people, most of them relatives and friends of the victims. Vang, dressed in a business suit, sat at the defense table in front of about two rows of family and friends.
Ten women and four men were picked for the jury, but after closing arguments two will become alternates and 12 jurors will decide the case. The jury came from Dane County because of pretrial publicity in Sawyer County.
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.”
This case only lasted approx one week in court with the jurors deciding in less then two hours