Sedgwick County DA asking for death penalty for 2014 triple slaying

A man accused of killing his girlfriend and two of her family members in 2014 could face the death penalty if he’s convicted of capital murder.

During Vinh Van Nguyen’s arraignment Friday morning, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett announced that he will ask jurors to consider execution as a punishment option if Nguyen is found guilty of the charge.

Prosecutors charged Nguyen with the death-eligible count nearly two years ago in connection with the June 24, 2014, slayings of 45-year-old Tuyet T. Huynh and her daughter and future son-in-law Trinh and Sean Pham, 20 and 21.

Officers found Huynh shot to death in the master bedroom of their home at 2207 S. Beech, near Pawnee and Webb.

The Phams’ bodies were found in a hallway and basement bedroom. Officers who responded to the house after one of the victims called 911 found the Phams’ 5-month-old baby inside, alive and unharmed.

Nguyen, 42, also is charged with three counts of first-degree premeditated murder as an alternative to capital murder. Jurors could convict him of either first-degree or capital murder, but not both.

In Kansas, capital murder carries a presumed punishment of death by lethal injection or life in prison without parole. Jurors, however, rather than judges, must be the ones to decide whether the evidence in a case warrants execution.

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Nguyen, through one of his defense attorneys, on Friday waived his right to have the charges against him read aloud in court. District Judge Warren Wilbert entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

“Do you wish to waive your right to a speedy trial?” Wilbert asked Nguyen.

Nguyen nodded and said “Yes” through a Vietnamese interpreter. He sat silently through the remainder of the hearing with his attorneys, Tim Frieden and Jeffrey Wicks of the state’s Death Penalty Defense Unit, at his side.

Nguyen is due back in court July 5. Attorneys at that time will give the judge an update on the case’s progress and possibly argue pretrial motions, Wicks said in court.

A jury trial date has not yet been set.

Progress of the case had been on hold while Nguyen received a mental exam at Larned State Hospital, according to court documents. He was found competent to stand trial in December.

Nguyen’s attorneys in a March 2015 court filing questioned his ability to comprehend the charges and their possible consequences; it was unclear at the time of the filing whether that was “the result of language barrier, culture, competency, of a combination thereof,” the document says.

Nguyen waived his right to a preliminary hearing in January, according to court records. He was bound over on capital and first-degree murder charges at that time.

Huynh’s father told The Eagle shortly after the killings that his daughter, a custodial worker at Wichita State University, and Nguyen had lived together for about a year at her house but that she had repeatedly tried to kick him out. When he returned, he threatened Huynh, her father has said.

Nguyen immigrated to the United States less than 10 years ago. One of 11 children, he was raised in a poor farming community in a rural region of Vietnam, according to the March 2015 court filing.

He remains in Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of $2 million bond.

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 12:59 PM with the headline "Sedgwick County DA asking for death penalty for 2014 triple slaying."