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Thread: Chuong Duong Tong - Texas Death Row

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    Chuong Duong Tong - Texas Death Row


    Tony Trinh


    Chuong Duong Tong


    Summary of Offense:

    On April 4, 1997, in Houston, Tong shot and killed an off-duty police officer, Tony Thrinh, during the robbery of a food store. Tong also took the officer's jewelry before fleeing the scene.

    Tong was sentenced to death in Harris County in April 1998.

  2. #2
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On July 1, 2010, Tong filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/tex...v02355/774854/

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    EX PARTE CHUONG DUONG TONG

    In today's Texas Court of Criminal Appeals orders, Tong's subsequent application for writ of habeas corpus was DISMISSED.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Killer of off-duty Houston officer loses appeal

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected an appeal from a Vietnamese refugee sent to death row for the slaying of a Houston police officer shot during a robbery while working his off hours as a clerk at his family's convenience store.

    The state's highest criminal court Wednesday refused an appeal from 36-year-old Chuong Duong Tong as improper and dismissed it.

    Tong was condemned for the 1997 death of 25-year-old Coung Huy "Tony" Trinh. His family also had fled Vietnam.

    Evidence showed Trinh was shot between the eyes at close range after identifying himself as an officer. Tong contended the killing during the holdup was an accident.

    Tong still has federal appeals he can pursue and does not have an execution date.

    http://www.khou.com/news/national/208494401.html
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  5. #5
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Death-Row Inmate Gets 1 Last Chance

    A Texas inmate can argue that his death sentence is invalid because prosecutors did not disclose their deal with a jailhouse snitch who testified that he had confessed to murder, a federal judge ruled.

    A Harris County jury convicted Chuong Duong Tong of capital murder in March 1998 and a judge sentenced him to death.

    The jury found Tong guilty of killing Houston police Officer Tony Trinh, who was off duty working at his parents' Houston convenience store on April 6, 1997, when Tong entered, pulled a Glock handgun and demanded Trinh's wallet and jewelry.

    "Tong attempted to open the cash register. Trinh then identified himself as a police officer, showed Tong his badge, and told Tong that he 'was not going to get away with this.' Tong shot Trinh once in the head at close range," according to U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas' summary in her Sept. 30 order.

    Tong stole Trinh's jewelry and fled to a waiting car.

    Police arrested Tong, then 21, several months later and he was charged with capital murder. He claimed in a statement he gave police that he accidentally shot Trinh while jumping over the store counter.

    He said he took apart the gun after fleeing from the store and showed police the storm drains where he dumped threw the parts.

    "While in a jail holding tank, Tong told a fellow inmate, Stephen Mayeros, why he was in jail," Atlas' 78-page ruling states. "Mayeros asked Tong how close he was when he shot Trinh, and Tong responded by touching his finger to Mayeros's forehead and saying 'bang.' When Mayeros asked Tong if he felt bad about killing Trinh, Tong replied that he felt terrible and cried himself to sleep, and then laughed."

    Several Houston police officers were clients of Mayeros' home-cleaning business when he was arrested for driving without a license and placed in the cell with Tong.

    Mayeros testified that after Tong confessed to him, he mentioned the conversation to one of his police clients, who put him in touch with a detective in the Houston Police Department's homicide division.

    Mayeros' charges were dropped 10 days after he gave a statement to police.

    Tong asked prosecutors for information about any deals they made with witnesses before trial, but they did not disclose their agreement with Mayeros.

    "Tong now contends that Mayeros admitted to Tong's prior habeas counsel, John McFarland, that he got a deal for testifying against Tong," Atlas' order states.

    Prosecutors must disclose evidence favorable to the defense under the Supreme Court's 1963 ruling in Brady v. Maryland.

    Finding that Tong's Brady claims should be vetted at a hearing, Judge Atlas ordered his defense and Texas prosecutors to submit a joint report proposing a discovery, briefing and hearing schedule by Oct. 31.

    Though Tong raised 16 categories of habeas claims, Atlas approved only his Brady claims. She dismissed all his other claims with prejudice.

    "We're happy that we're getting a hearing," Tong's attorney Jonathan Landers said in an interview, noting how rarely prisoners win relief in habeas cases.

    "We're disappointed that our other claims weren't granted," he said.

    Landers mentioned another Harris County case involving Linda Carty, the only United Kingdom citizen on death row in the United States, and an unusual post-conviction hearing she got in July after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals told a state judge to consider allegations of prosecutorial misconduct made in witness affidavits.

    Harris County Judge David Garner ruled on Sept. 1 that prosecutors did withhold evidence from Carty, but that that was not enough to prejudice the jury.

    "The State was operating under a misunderstanding of Brady at the time of the Carty trial. ... The Harris County District Attorney's Office did not believe that impeachment or exculpatory evidence needed to be disclosed if the prosecutor did not find the testimony credible," Garner wrote.

    Garner's order says prosecutors did not tell Carty's counsel that they had agreed a witness could avoid prison if Carty received the death penalty.

    A jury convicted Carty of capital murder for the death of Joanna Rodriguez, after prosecutors persuaded them Carty suffocated Rodriguez so she could steal her newborn son.

    A judge sentenced Carty to death in February 2002, four years after Tong received his death sentence.

    Landers said Carty's case illustrates a pattern of obstruction at the District Attorney's Office.

    "Harris County during this time period was having some problems at the DA's office of not notifying attorneys about deals they made with clients," the attorney said.

    In capital murder cases, Texas district attorneys' offices represent the state in state post-conviction appeals; the Texas Attorney General's Office handles federal habeas appeals.

    Harris County Assistant District Attorney Lori DeAngelo is assigned to Tong's state case. She said Tong's death sentence should stand even if Judge Atlas decides to suppress Mayeros' testimony.

    "There is more than enough evidence to uphold Tong's conviction, even without Mayeros' testimony," DeAngelos said in an email. "If a hearing is actually held on the issues Judge Atlas set out in her order, I am confident that the Attorney General's Office will do an excellent job handling the hearing and will ultimately prevail."

    http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/1...ast-chance.htm

  6. #6
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Convicted cop killer asks Houston federal judge to intervene in case

    By Gabrielle Banks
    The Houston Chronicle

    After almost two decades on Texas' death row, convicted killer Chuong Duong Tong is asking a Houston federal judge to intervene in his capital murder conviction in the 1997 death of off-duty Houston police officer at convenience store.

    Tong, 40, contends that Harris County prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense during his trial that could have been used to help him fight the charges.

    During a hearing Tuesday in federal court, Tong's lawyers called two witnesses in the morning before summoning Tong to the stand.

    At that point, Senior U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas ordered the courtroom sealed - effectively evicting a Chronicle reporter and several others who were not parties in the case from about noon to about 6:30 p.m.

    The Chronicle reporter formally objected to the closure and asked to remain under the presumption that court testimony is expected to be presented in public. The judge noted the request and declined it.

    The courtroom is set to be opened again Wednesday when the hearing resumes.

    Tong was convicted in 1998 in the fatal shooting of Houston police officer Coung Huy "Tony" Trinh, 25, who was working as a clerk in his family's convenience store on Westerland when Tong came in to rob it in 1997, prosecutors contended.

    Tong, a Vietnam refugee, had an extensive criminal history, including shooting a Harris County man and his 9-month-old baby and a gang-related bank robbery in the months leading up to the officer's shooting.

    Trinh, too, was from Vietnam, having left the country in 1975 at age 4, with his father and mother. He became a citizen in 1983. He graduated from the police academy in 1994 and served more than two years before he was killed.

    The court hearing Tuesday came in response to a so-called "habeas corpus" request for the federal court to get involved in the case after Tong had exhausted his appeal in the state courts.

    A court document filed Friday notes that "sensitive hearing material" was expected to be presented during the case and would lead to closure of the courtroom. The judge warned again Tuesday morning that portions of the hearing would be closed.

    Several Houston detectives, a death penalty opponent, a legal clerk and others lined the hallway while a rotating cast of court officers took turns manning the door, making sure that no one who was not specifically authorized enter.

    The hearing began Tuesday morning with testimony from Stephen Gerard Mayeros, who testified in the 1998 capital murder trial that he was in a holding cell with Tong in the Harris County jail when Tong shared information about the case.

    Mayeros did not testify Tuesday about what Tong had told him, but court filings state that "Mayeros asked Tong how close he was when he shot Trinh, and Tong responded by touching his finger to Mayeros's forehead and saying 'bang.'"

    The filings go on to say, "When Mayeros asked Tong if he felt bad about killing Trinh, Tong replied that he felt terrible and cried himself to sleep, and then laughed."

    Mayeros testified Tuesday that he provided evidence to prosecutors after being told that his own criminal case could be handled favorably if he provided evidence.

    http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news...e-11200816.php

  7. #7
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Considering that Ogg got a date for Robert Jennings, I assume cop killers are on her list. How long until we can expect a date for him or Haynes?

  8. #8
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Haynes is eligible so whenever Ogg does her job. This guy isn't even before the 5th Circuit so who knows.
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  9. #9
    Senior Member Frequent Poster NanduDas's Avatar
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    On April 2, 2019, Tong filed an appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...s/ca5/19-70008
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  10. #10
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Remanded to the federal district court by the Fifth Circuit, although a COA via Brady claim has been denied.

    https://law.justia.com/cases/federal...020-08-27.html
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