A state judge found Alex Nguyen guilty Friday of manslaughter in the fatal beating of an illegal gambling house employee in a city-owned building four years ago.
Nguyen, 35, was on trial for murder for the April 2011 death of Duc Pham. He faces a 20-year prison term for manslaughter at sentencing in May.
Pham, 42, died from blunt force injuries to his head.
Three men who provided security for the Marin Tower game room testified that they struck Pham with their hands but that it was Nguyen who delivered the most serious blows with kicks and strikes using the metal base of a table and a metal chair, as well as swinging a heavy metal chain.
The three men are Maauga Imoa, 28, Manu Tonga, 25, and Sione Vulangi, 30. They had each pleaded guilty to assault and kidnapping and testified against Nguyen as part of separate deals with the prosecutor. The deals call for the men to each receive 20-year prison terms at sentencing next month.
Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario presided over Nguyen’s nonjury trial.
He said he found the testimonies of Imoa, Tonga and Vulangi inconsistent, self-serving and/or the result of their favorable plea agreements with the state.
Tonga testified that he is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed nearly 500 pounds at the time of Pham’s fatal beating. He said Vulangi is about the same height and weighed at least 300 pounds.
Imoa testified that he is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 430 pounds.
Del Rosario said he did not find credible the men’s claims that they were afraid to stop Nguyen from beating Pham because of concerns for their own physical safety.
"However, the court does find that the state has proven that the defendant did cause the death of the decedent by blunt trauma to the head," Del Rosario said.
He said he found Nguyen guilty of manslaughter instead of murder because he said the state did not prove that Nguyen intentionally killed Pham or knew that his actions would cause Pham’s death.
Nguyen was also charged with kidnapping Pham.
Del Rosario dismissed the charge because he said Nguyen committed the kidnapping in the course of committing the manslaughter.
Tonga and Imoa testified that they beat Pham because they believed he stole $1,500 from the house. Once Pham admitted he stole the money, they stopped beating him, they said. They said Nguyen, who did not work at the game room, then stepped in a delivered a more vicious beating that left Pham unconscious.
The two men testified that after Nguyen left, they cleaned up Pham. They said they took Pham to the Queen’s Medical Center a few hours later, after they noticed foam coming from his mouth.
Tonga told police at Queen’s that they found Pham in the parking lot of Moanalua Community Park.
The men later told police that they transported Pham to the hospital from the illegal gambling room on Maunakea Street, where Pham had been beaten.
