Shelia Pace Gooden
Death penalty sought in Ardmore killing
By Michael Hewlett
The Winston-Salem Journal
A 22-year-old Winston-Salem man will face the death penalty on charges that he shot a woman living in the Ardmore neighborhood and then robbed her last fall.
Judge John O. Craig of Forsyth Superior Court granted prosecutors’ request Thursday to seek the death penalty against Anthony Vinh Nguyen, one of three men charged in the fatal shooting of Shelia Pace Gooden, 43, on Oct. 11. A grand jury indicted Nguyen and two others – Daniel Aaron Benson, 23, and Steve George Assimos, 22 — in May on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping and robbery with a deadly weapon. The grand jury also found a sentencing enhancement against Nguyen for displaying a firearm during a felony.
Based on court filings, it appears Forsyth County prosecutors believe that Nguyen was the shooter. Prosecutors have not indicated publicly any intent to pursue the death penalty against Benson and Assimos.
Assistant District Attorneys Ben White and Jennifer Martin said that they were pursuing the death penalty based on three aggravating factors: that Gooden’s killing was “especially heinous, atrocious and cruel;” that Nguyen killed Gooden during the commission of another felony; and that the killing was done for “pecuniary gain.”
State law provides prosecutors 11 aggravating factors from which to choose in order to pursue the death penalty.
Nguyen is being represented by attorneys David Botchin and John Bryson. Botchin said Thursday that no trial date has been set.
All three men are in the Forsyth County Jail with no bond allowed.
http://www.journalnow.com/news/crime...7a43b2370.html
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