By Peter Larson
The Orange County Register
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A Westminster man was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday for the 1995 execution-style slaying of a fellow gang member, prosecutors said.
A jury convicted Anthony Paul Johnson, Jr., 36, in April of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Co-defendants Giang Thuy Nguyen, 36, of Fountain Valley; Tam Hung Nguyen, 36, of Riverside; and Truc Ngoc Tran, 35, of Santa Ana were also found guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 21, according to a statement from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
On Feb. 24, 1995, Johnson, Giang Nguyen and fellow gang member Viet Nguyen robbed the Huntington Beach home of one of Viet Nguyen’s high school classmates, prosecutors said, but Viet Nguyen fled in the middle of the robbery because he thought the victim ahd recognized him.
Prosecutors said the other gang members plotted to kill Viet Nguyen for running away and to prevent him from implicating them if he were identified by the victim. Viet Nguyen was shot in the back of the head the next day while driving in Costa Mesa, after the other gang members had persuaded him to take them to buy drugs, according to the statement.
The case went cold until 2006, when the Costa Mesa Police Department began reinvestigating with the help of the District Attorney’s Office.
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