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Thread: Philing Huynh Sentenced to LWOP in 2008 Cali Murder of Dane Williams

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Philing Huynh Sentenced to LWOP in 2008 Cali Murder of Dane Williams

    A man arrested in the death of a Dane Williams, a 23-year-old intern from Huntington Beach whose body was found in a San Diego alley last year, could get the death penalty if convicted, prosecutors said today.

    Philong Huynh, 39, of San Diego was arrested Thursday and pleaded not guilty today on one charge of murder and two charges of sexual assault. Charges of murder and sexual assault while the victim was intoxicated could lead to 25 years to life in prison, and a special circumstances allegation of murder during commission of a sex crime makes Huynh eligible for the death penalty if convicted, San Diego prosecutors said.

    No bail was set for Huynh and a preliminary hearing was set for Sept. 29. Police released a photo of Huynh in the hopes that other possible victims might come forward.

    Detectives working a sex crime from June 6, 2009, identified Huynh as a suspect in that case, and gathered DNA evidence from him, San Diego police said. That DNA material matched evidence found on Williams’ body, police said. Huynh lives around 800 feet from where Williams’ body was found, police said.

    It is still unknown how Dane Williams died, police said.

    The family has declined to comment on the arrest, sister Hayley Williams said today, adding that her parents were in San Diego for the arraignment.

    Hayley Williams posted on her Facebook about 11:30 a.m., “An arrest has been made!!”

    Dane Williams’ family had been on a campaign since his death to encourage witnesses to come forward with information.

    Family and friends held a remembrance vigil in January at an Action Sports Retailer trade expo – the same event Dane Williams had attended before he disappeared. White wristbands with the words, “Keeping Dane’s Spirit Alive” were handed out and people wearing the wristband were given free cab rides back to their hotels after the expo’s parties, according to apparelnews.net.

    The June 6, 2009, sexual assault wasn’t solved immediately, but when DNA evidence recovered from the victim was uploaded to a database, a hit came back on Aug. 19 that matched a sample recovered from the Williams crime scene, said Lt. Kevin Rooney of the homicide unit.

    They didn’t have a name connected to either sample, so solving the sexual assault became a high priority. The case was transferred to homicide detectives, Rooney said.

    “Between Aug. 19 and Sept. 10, we did everything we could to solve that sex crime,” Rooney said.

    Detectives arrested Huynh on Thursday, Sept. 10, and served search warrants on two homes.

    Rooney said that a sample of Huynh’s DNA has been tested, and that it matches the DNA in the two crimes.

    The victim in the June 6, 2009, sexual assault said he met Huynh in San Diego’s Gaslamp district and the two ended up drinking and going to the beach, City News Service reported. After telling Huynh he had a headache, the man was given two pills he was told were Tylenol, then woke up without his underwear in the defendant’s bed the next morning, the prosecutor said, according to City News Service.

    Williams was last seen around 3 a.m. Jan. 26, 2008, outside a bar at the Hard Rock Hotel in the Gaslamp district.

    He was found Jan. 29, 2008, at 6 a.m. in a damp, dirt alley, wrapped in a blood-stained plaid blanket with small cuts on his body. He was lying on his back with his feet crossed wearing the same clothing as the day he disappeared – a black pullover Hurley branded shirt with stripes, Hurley denim jeans, a brown belt and white All Star gym shoes.

    His clothing was damp and no personal items were found on or near the body, a coroner’s report said. His underwear was missing, City News Service reported, citing the prosecutor.

    Dane Williams’ blood alcohol level was 0.17 percent – more than twice the legal limit for driving. There were also slight amounts of Valium and quinine in his body, authorities said.

    Family members have said Williams did have an occasional drink but did not take drugs.


    http://www.ocregister.com/articles/body-williams-hurley-2567174-huynh-dna

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Conventioneer Sex Assault, Murder Hearing To Continue

    SAN DIEGO -- A preliminary hearing that began in December is scheduled to resume Wednesday in the case of a City Heights man accused of sexually assaulting and killing an Orange County man in San Diego last year, and sexually assaulting another young man.

    Philong Huynh, 39, pleaded not guilty in September to murder and a special circumstance of sodomy in the January 2008 slaying of 23-year-old Dane Williams of Huntington Beach, who had come to San Diego to work at a convention for a Costa Mesa-based skate and surfwear clothing company.

    Huynh was arrested after a second young man came forward last year with DNA evidence that allegedly tied Huynh to Williams' murder.

    The second alleged victim -- a Navy man identified as Jeremiah R. -- testified during a preliminary hearing in December that he met the defendant in downtown San Diego on June 6 last year.

    The witness said the defendant offered him a ride to the beach. On the way, the defendant stopped at a liquor store and bought two bottles of liquor and two bottles of Coke, Jeremiah said.

    After going to Ocean Beach, Jeremiah said he had a headache and the defendant gave him a pill or two from a Tylenol bottle. He said he blacked out at some point and has only scattered memories of the rest of the evening.

    The next morning, he woke up at the defendant's home without his underwear on, he said.

    An officer later recommended he get a sexual assault exam, the witness said, denying any sexual interest in men.

    Prosecutors said doctors found Jeremiah had benzodiazepine intoxication - - Benzodiazepine is a central nervous system depressant -- and visible signs of a sexual assault consistent with sodomy.

    Pharmaceuticals were later found in the defendant's home, including a prescription for benzodiazepine that was filled in January 2008, the month Williams was killed, the prosecution said.

    Williams disappeared after leaving the Hard Rock Cafe in the Gaslamp Quarter in the early morning hours of Jan. 26, 2008.

    He was intoxicated and seen falling to the ground when he left the club, prosecutors said. His body was found three days later in a City Heights alley, one block from where Huynh lived, authorities said.

    Williams' underwear was missing, and DNA evidence was recovered from his shirt and body, said Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Means.

    At the end of the preliminary hearing, Judge Charles Rogers will decide if enough evidence was presented for Huynh to stand trial.

    District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis will decide later whether the defendant will face the death penalty or life in prison without parole if convicted.

    http://www.10news.com/news/22726531/detail.html

  3. #3
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    DA won't seek death penalty for man accused in fatal sex assault

    SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A man accused of sexually assaulting and killing an intoxicated man in San Diego and drugging and sexually assaulting another young man will not face the death penalty, prosecutors announced Friday.

    Philong Huynh, 39, of City Heights, is accused of killing 23-year-old Dane Williams of Huntington Beach, on Jan. 26, 2008. The charges include murder and a special circumstance of murder during sodomy or oral copulation.

    He will face a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    The decision was made by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who considered the evidence and various factors in the case, Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Means said.

    The case was assigned to Judge Robert O'Neill for trial, which is scheduled for Jan. 11, Means said. Lawyers for both sides will probably go to court in the near future to have the date changed, she said.

    Williams, who had come to San Diego to work at a convention for a Costa Mesa-based skate and surfwear clothing company, disappeared after leaving the Hard Rock Cafe in the Gaslamp Quarter. He was intoxicated and seen falling to the ground when he left the club, prosecutors said.

    His body was found three days later in an alley a block from where Huynh lived.

    A cause of death was undetermined, but his underwear was missing and DNA was found on his clothes and body, Means said.

    The defendant is also charged with sodomizing a second intoxicated young man who came forward last year. DNA evidence from that man allegedly tied Huynh to Williams' murder.

    During a four-day preliminary hearing, Billy Sharrock, the former co-owner of a company that produced amateur gay porn, testified Wednesday that he hired Huynh in August 2006 to take care of the firm's computers.

    He said Huynh told him that he liked to show young men a good time, then offer them something to "relax" and "have his way" with them.

    He testified that Huynh said he liked straight guys because they were "more of a challenge."

    "He told me he would offer a drug to them ... the majority of them took it," Sharrock said.

    He said he saw Huynh with Valium at the office, and that the defendant told him he had a medical background and got his drugs in Mexico.

    Sharrock said Huynh told him that "these boys were unconscious when he was having anal sex with them. That was his form of entertainment."

    The witness said Huynh told him he liked intoxicated men and young men in the military.

    Pharmaceuticals were later found in the defendant's home, including a prescription for benzodiazepine that was filled in January 2008, the month Williams was killed, according to prosecutors.

    http://www.760kfmb.com/Global/story.asp?S=13493835

  4. #4
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    AN DIEGO (CNS) - A medical student who plied an already intoxicated Orange County man with drugs, then killed him during a sexual assault, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Philong Huynh, 41, was convicted in June of the Jan. 26, 2008, murder of 23-year-old Dane Williams of Huntington Beach, who came to San Diego for a trade show.

    Jurors found that the murder happened while the defendant was engaged in the sodomy and oral copulation of an intoxicated victim.

    Huynh, of City Heights, was also convicted of sodomy and oral copulation of an intoxicated person for a 2009 sexual assault on a 20-year-old Navy Corpsman who came forward more than a year after Williams' death.

    "Losing Dane was gut-wrenching. I ache for him every day," said Williams' mother, Valen.

    She called Huynh a "coward" and a "poor excuse for a human being."

    "I honestly cannot fathom how your evil mind works," the victim's mother told the defendant. "Dane is not coming back. You made sure of that. After today, I will never, ever think of you again."

    Friends said Williams wanted to be a professional surfer.

    Williams' father, Jim, called Huynh a "predator" who will spend his time in prison "at the bottom of the inmate food chain."

    According to a probation report, Huynh would be a high risk to commit another sexual offense if released from custody, said Judge Robert F. O'Neill.

    Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Means told the judge that Huynh's sexual crimes against Jeremiah -- the Navy Corpsman -- left him "irrevocably altered and scarred."

    The prosecutor said the defendant manipulated the young man and violated him "time and time again."

    In his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney David Hendren said deputy medical examiners determined that Williams' probable cause of death was asphyxia. Because doctors couldn't determine how Valium got into the victim's system, they listed the manner of death as undetermined, Hendren said.

    Hendren said Huynh was in his third year of medical school, had studied pharmacology, knew a lot about drugs and had prescriptions for Benzodiazapam and Clonazepam, He said the defendant acted like a "wolf in sheep's clothing" by giving Williams a depressant that rendered him unable to fight off a sexual assault.

    Williams' body was found three days later in an alley two blocks from the home that Huynh shared with his mother.

    The prosecutor said Williams, Jeremiah and four other men who testified at trial were heterosexuals who fell victim to Huynh's con game between 2007 and 2009. Hendren said Huynh would meet young, good-looking straight men, gain their trust by talking about women, then offer to buy them drinks and take them to strip clubs in Mexico.

    Once he got the victims alone, Huynh would slip them a depressant to knock them out, making them "basically unconscious," the prosecutor said.

    Jeremiah said he felt disoriented for five days after being drugged and sexually assaulted by Huynh, the prosecutor said.

    In August 2009, sperm found on Williams' body was matched to sperm found on the Navy Corpsman, and Huynh was arrested the following month.

    Defense attorney Terry Zimmerman said the defendant didn't kill Williams. She said there was evidence that Huynh and Williams were together the night the victim died, and that the defendant woke up next to the dead man and disposed of the body, placing it where it could be found.

    http://www.cbs8.com/story/15258130/m...-orange-county

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