Los Angeles County Superior Court. Photo by John Schreiber.
A man was ordered Tuesday to stand trial for the stabbing deaths of two men following a dispute at a private social club in Chinatown where he had once been a member.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor rejected the defense’s motion to dismiss the case against Vinh Dao, 37, who is charged with murder for the Jan. 26 killings of Tony Young and Kim Kong Yun, both 64, at the Hop Sing Tong Benevolent Association at 428 Gin Ling Way.
The murder charges include the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, along with the allegation that Dao personally used a knife in the commission of the crimes.
Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty against Dao.
Through a Cantonese interpreter, three men who were at the club identified the defendant as the man they saw stabbing Yun in the neck with a knife.
One of the men, Chung Kim Lam, testified that Dao initially wandered around the club and that he eventually heard Yun asking Dao to leave and saw him trying to push Dao out of the club.
The witness testified that Young rushed toward Dao after he pulled out a knife.
“I saw the blood. I was so scared,” Lam said, testifying that he saw Dao trying to chase Young and that he didn’t see what came next because he rushed out of the club.
He said he went to a nearby business to look for a friend to call 911, then later returned and saw Young lying face-down on the stairs and Yun on the floor.
Another witness, Jimmy Y. Wong, testified that Dao appeared to be arguing with Young and Yun — who had been playing mah jongg when Dao came into the club — before the defendant pulled out a knife and stabbed Yun twice and then Young three times. He acknowledged telling a police officer the day of the stabbings that he didn’t see what had happened to Young because he ran out of the club.
A third man, Rui Zhou Yu, told the judge that he ran out the club’s back door and called police after seeing Dao stab Yun, who was bleeding from the neck.
LAPD Detective Kasie Chavez testified that Young was found lying on the stairs and that Yun’s body was found by the front door.
A deputy medical examiner concluded that Young died of three stab wounds to the neck and chest and an incision on his left wrist, while another deputy medical examiner concluded that Yun died of a stab wound to the neck, according to the detective.
Police said Dao was a former member of the club who had recently returned to Los Angeles after several years in the Las Vegas area. He was arrested in Rosemead about 24 hours after the killings and remains jailed without bail while awaiting arraignment Oct. 17.
–City News Service
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