A self-professed ?first-generation? gangster testified in Sonoma County court Monday that one of six Santa Rosa men charged with murdering a witness near Jenner Beach last year threatened the victim?s mother three months earlier.
The jailhouse informant, testifying anonymously and under a plea deal that?s been sealed by the judge, is expected to offer further testimony today about what prosecutors say are the defendants? admissions and motives in the slaying of Vutha Au on March 2, 2008.
The testimony came in the eighth day of a preliminary hearing for Quentin Russell, 25, Preston Khaoone, 23, Tyrone Tay, 27, Boonlack Chanpheng, 27, and brothers David, 20, and Sarith Prak, 22. They are charged with murder in the shooting death of Au, 24, in a parking lot at Blind Beach near Jenner.
The six men face charges that could trigger a life sentence without parole or the death penalty.
Investigators say Au was killed so he couldn?t testify on behalf of his brother, 22-year-old Terry Au, who prosecutors say was kidnapped and beaten by a group of drug-dealing gangsters that included two of Khaoone?s brothers. That case is pending.
Neither Tay nor Chanpheng were present at Vutha Au?s slaying, according to police. They said Chanpheng helped plan the attack and that Tay was with Au before the other four men drove him to the beach parking lot and killed him.
One man shot Au nine times, according to police and autopsy findings. He was found dead at the scene, face-down in a pool of blood with 18 shell casings surrounding his body.
In court Monday, the heavily tattooed 31-year-old informant said he became an Asian Boyz gang member in 1992 or 1993. He is the seventh anonymous witness to testify and the second to receive a formal deal from prosecutors in exchange for his testimony.
Called only Witness 7 in court, he said he goes by the gang nickname ?Smoke? and said he is a first-generation gangster. He said he met Khaoone after being released from prison in 2004 or 2005, calling Khaoone a member of the ?junior Asian Boyz,? a younger gang member.
Tay is alleged to be a member of the Dec Lao Crips, another Asian gang.
Some of the witness? information comes from contacts he had with the defendants shortly after the murder and in Sonoma County Jail, prosecutor Traci Carrillo said.
The ex-con testified that during a New Year?s Eve party, he heard Khaoone essentially threaten the mother of both Terry and Vutha Au.
?He mentioned that earlier that evening he seen the mother of Terry and he tried to pursue her, and he lost her in traffic,? the witness said. ?He said, ?f--- that b----. She?ll get hers.??
The witness said Russell and the Prak brothers were in on the conversation, among others.
Terry Au, who authorities contend had been selling methamphetamine for the Khaoones, was allegedly kidnapped, beaten and burned with cigarettes in October 2007 over a dispute involving drug money. He said Perry and Pongsony Khaoone, along with others, had broken into the family?s home and threatened him before.
Members of the Au family were relocated under the county?s Witness Relocation and Protection Program after Terry Au testified in court in late 2007 against the men accused of attacking him. Prosecutors said Vutha Au was going to be a witness in the trial, which was scheduled for last year but has been reset for July.
Vutha Au was apparently kidnapped during one of his occasional returns to Santa Rosa.
Another anonymous witness told police that she saw her husband and Vutha Au get into Tay?s car the night of the shooting. The husband testified last week about his role under a grant of immunity. He was arrested but not charged in the case.
Witness 7 is set to return to the witness stand today.
Following the preliminary hearing, which could last several more weeks, Judge Ken Gnoss will determine if there is enough evidence to hold the men over for trial. All six defendants are being held without bail at Sonoma County Jail.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: