People v. Thang Thanh Nguyen

177 Misc. 2d 16, 675 N.Y.S.2d 799, 1998 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 222
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1998
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 177 Misc. 2d 16 (People v. Thang Thanh Nguyen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Thang Thanh Nguyen, 177 Misc. 2d 16, 675 N.Y.S.2d 799, 1998 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 222 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Raymond E. Cornelius, J.

On the early morning of Sunday, January 26, 1992, the defendant, Thang Thanh Nguyen, along with several other individuals, were allegedly involved in a home invasion in a suburb of Rochester, New York. The victim was a local restaurateur, Chung Lam, who, together with his wife and other members of the family, were present inside of the residence. During the course of this incident, Chung Lam was shot and killed with a handgun, and his wife, Thu Lam, as well as one of the intruders, sustained injury by also being shot with a gun.

The two persons who are claimed to have accompanied the defendant on the morning of January 26, 1992 were subsequently arrested and convicted of various offenses in connection with the incident. However, the defendant purportedly fled the jurisdiction and returned to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Evidence was presented to a Grand Jury on June 29 and July 8, 1992, and this resulted in a sealed indictment, dated July 9, 1992, charging the defendant with two counts of murder in the second degree, one count of attempt to commit the crime of murder in the second degree, two counts of burglary in the first degree, and six counts of robbery in the first degree. On that same date, and based thereon, a superior court warrant was issued, by the Monroe County Court, for the arrest of the defendant. Such warrant, of course, may be executed anywhere within the State of New York. (CPL 210.10 [3].) On January 8, 1998, approximately six years after the return of the indictment and issuance of the superior court warrant, the defendant appeared before this court for arraignment on the indictment, and has been continuously held in custody since that time.

The omnibus motion, filed pursuant to CPL 255.20, includes an application for dismissal of the indictment upon grounds [18]*18that the court lacks jurisdiction over the person of the defendant, and that there has been a violation of his due process rights under both the United States and New York State Constitutions. More specifically, in an affidavit submitted in support of the motion, counsel for the defendant has asserted that, on December 22, 1997, his client was taken into the physical custody of the Vietnamese military police. Although the United States does not have any extradition treaty with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, counsel contends that the defendant was taken into custody at the request of American governmental officials, located at the United States Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, and thereafter, on January 5, 1998, was turned over to representatives of the United States Government.

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Related

People v. Thang Thanh Nguyen
309 A.D.2d 1269 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
177 Misc. 2d 16, 675 N.Y.S.2d 799, 1998 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 222, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-thang-thanh-nguyen-nysupct-1998.