Prosecutor to seek death penalty in triple Wichita killing

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A southern Kansas prosecutor said Friday he’ll seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing his girlfriend and two of her relatives in 2014.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett announced during Vinh Van Nguyen’s arraignment Friday that he’ll ask jurors to consider execution as punishment if Nguyen is convicted, the Wichita Eagle (https://bit.ly/1V96Y4z) reported.

Nguyen. 42, is charged with capital and first-degree murder counts in the June 2014 slayings of 45-year-old Tuyet Huynh, her 20-year-old daughter, Trinh Pham, and 21-year-old Sean Pham. Their bodies were found in the victims’ Wichita home, where police found the Phams’ 5-month-old baby unharmed.

An attorney for Nguyen waived his client’s right to have the charges read aloud in court Friday, and a plea of not guilty was entered on Nguyen’s behalf.

Nguyen, who immigrated to the U.S. less than 10 years ago and was provided with an interpreter during Friday’s arraignment, was found mentally competent last December to stand trial. He is jailed in lieu of $2 million bond.

Progress in the case had been on hold while Nguyen received a mental exam at a state psychiatric hospital, court documents show.

Huynh’s father has said his daughter and Nguyen had lived together for about a year at her house but that she repeatedly had tried to kick Nguyen out.

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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, https://www.kansas.com