This story still brings tears to my eyes.
Man who threw children off Dauphin Island bridge sentenced to death - al.com
Man who threw children off Dauphin Island bridge sentenced to death
Friday, May 01, 2009
By KATHERINE SAYRE
Staff Reporter
A Mobile County circuit judge Thursday sentenced Lam Luong to death for tossing his four children off the Dauphin Island bridge and ordered prison officials to show Luong photographs of "each of his young, beautiful children" every day he spends on death row.
"Ryan, Hannah, Lindsey, and Danny were innocent children, murdered by a man who should have been their protector, their father," Judge Charles Graddick said in sentencing the Vietnamese refugee.
"You laughed and told your wife they would never be found. You have utterly shown no remorse for your actions."
Luong, 38, threw the children — aged 3 years to 4 months — from the 100-foot-tall bridge into the cold waters of the Mississippi Sound on Jan. 7, 2008.
A jury found him guilty on five counts of capital murder and recommended the death penalty during a week long trial in March.
Graddick also ordered that any profits made by Luong or anyone on his behalf from books, TV shows, films or other productions about the slayings be transferred to his wife, Kieu Phan, for restitution in the amount of $50 million.
"And may God have mercy on you," Graddick said.
During Thursday's hearing, the judge gave Luong an opportunity to speak. Luong turned to his wife, who was sitting in the front row of the courtroom. As his voice cracked, he offered a short statement in Vietnamese. Phan began crying.
"I apologize to my wife," a court-appointed translator said after Luong finished speaking.
Hannah Luong, 2; Lindsey Luong, 1; and Danny Luong, 4 months; were the children of Lam Luong and Phan.
When she met Luong, she was pregnant with the oldest child, 3-year-old Ryan Phan, according to testimony, although Luong raised him as his own son.
The children's bodies were found one-by-one along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana during a two-week search by law enforcement officers and volunteers.
Luong's five counts of capital murder included one for each of the four children and a fifth for killing two or more people in the same course of
action.
Defense attorneys asked for life in prison without parole, arguing that Luong suffered from depression and a longtime addiction to crack cocaine.
They argued that Luong suffered as an ostracized mixed-race child in Vietnam. He is the son of a Vietnamese woman and a black American soldier, one of a group of children known as Amerasians.
Graddick said the aggravating circumstances of the slayings outweighed those factors.
"The feeling of falling produces a visceral reaction in the body," that for the children would have meant "sheer, unmitigated terror," Graddick said.
After the hearing, the children's uncle, Kam Phengsisomboun, left the courtroom with his arm around the children's mother. He said the family was satisfied with the judge's ruling.
"We're going to go see the babies," Phengsisomboun said, referring to the children's graves at Oddfellows Cemetery in Irvington. "We're pretty sure they already know what has happened."
Luong, who moved to the United States when he was 13, will have an automatic appeal of his death sentence.
A spokesman with the Department of Corrections said Luong was moved to Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.
Man who threw children off Dauphin Island bridge sentenced to death - al.com
Man who threw children off Dauphin Island bridge sentenced to death
Friday, May 01, 2009
By KATHERINE SAYRE
Staff Reporter
A Mobile County circuit judge Thursday sentenced Lam Luong to death for tossing his four children off the Dauphin Island bridge and ordered prison officials to show Luong photographs of "each of his young, beautiful children" every day he spends on death row.
"Ryan, Hannah, Lindsey, and Danny were innocent children, murdered by a man who should have been their protector, their father," Judge Charles Graddick said in sentencing the Vietnamese refugee.
"You laughed and told your wife they would never be found. You have utterly shown no remorse for your actions."
Luong, 38, threw the children — aged 3 years to 4 months — from the 100-foot-tall bridge into the cold waters of the Mississippi Sound on Jan. 7, 2008.
A jury found him guilty on five counts of capital murder and recommended the death penalty during a week long trial in March.
Graddick also ordered that any profits made by Luong or anyone on his behalf from books, TV shows, films or other productions about the slayings be transferred to his wife, Kieu Phan, for restitution in the amount of $50 million.
"And may God have mercy on you," Graddick said.
During Thursday's hearing, the judge gave Luong an opportunity to speak. Luong turned to his wife, who was sitting in the front row of the courtroom. As his voice cracked, he offered a short statement in Vietnamese. Phan began crying.
"I apologize to my wife," a court-appointed translator said after Luong finished speaking.
Hannah Luong, 2; Lindsey Luong, 1; and Danny Luong, 4 months; were the children of Lam Luong and Phan.
When she met Luong, she was pregnant with the oldest child, 3-year-old Ryan Phan, according to testimony, although Luong raised him as his own son.
The children's bodies were found one-by-one along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana during a two-week search by law enforcement officers and volunteers.
Luong's five counts of capital murder included one for each of the four children and a fifth for killing two or more people in the same course of
action.
Defense attorneys asked for life in prison without parole, arguing that Luong suffered from depression and a longtime addiction to crack cocaine.
They argued that Luong suffered as an ostracized mixed-race child in Vietnam. He is the son of a Vietnamese woman and a black American soldier, one of a group of children known as Amerasians.
Graddick said the aggravating circumstances of the slayings outweighed those factors.
"The feeling of falling produces a visceral reaction in the body," that for the children would have meant "sheer, unmitigated terror," Graddick said.
After the hearing, the children's uncle, Kam Phengsisomboun, left the courtroom with his arm around the children's mother. He said the family was satisfied with the judge's ruling.
"We're going to go see the babies," Phengsisomboun said, referring to the children's graves at Oddfellows Cemetery in Irvington. "We're pretty sure they already know what has happened."
Luong, who moved to the United States when he was 13, will have an automatic appeal of his death sentence.
A spokesman with the Department of Corrections said Luong was moved to Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.