Skater’s Killer Gets 25 to Life

SANTA ANA â€”  Saying he believed the defendant had lied to the court and was indeed guilty of murder, a Superior Court judge gave Domenic M. Christopher the maximum sentence of 25 years to life for his role in the 1996 slaying of a former UCLA student leader.

“A jury did not have a problem finding you guilty,� said Judge Robert B. Huston, addressing the 18-year-old defendant. “I heard the evidence and I agree with them. I do not believe your account of the events and I believe you are guilty.�

Although Christopher admitted he was at the scene of the murder of 24-year-old Thien Minh Ly of Tustin, he denied participating in the fatal knife attack.

Another defendant, Gunner J. Lindberg, is charged with murder during commission of a hate crime and attempted robbery, two special allegations that could make him eligible for the death penalty.

Christopher’s attorney, Dennis McNerney, said his client intended to hassle Ly, who was exercising near his parents’ home in Tustin, and had no idea that a murder was going to take place.

However, Deputy District Attorney Debbie Lloyd said Christopher never told the whole truth about his role in the murder.

“His statements were contradictory,� she said, adding that one prison informant told court authorities that Christopher admitted to other inmates that he stabbed Ly.

Friday’s sentencing brought little solace for family members of the victim, who wept through the entire proceeding.

“This is good for society, but it is not good for my family,� said Ly’s mother, Dao Hyunh. “Whatever they do, my son is still gone.�

The victim’s sister, Thu Ly, 23, testified Friday that Christopher should get the maximum sentence because her family has been “living in a nightmare� in the 488 days since the death of her brother.

In moving testimony, Thu Ly described the emotional trauma of losing the oldest brother she described as intellectually curious, devoted and fun-loving.

“He was the backbone of our family and it is still painful for me to look at my parents and see the pain in their eyes,� she said. “When my brother died, my parents’ source of inspiration died with him.�

Ly, a graduate of Tustin High School and UCLA, had returned to Orange County after finishing a master’s degree at Georgetown University in Washington. While at UCLA, he had been president of the Vietnamese Student Assn.

Ly left the family’s home in Tustin on the evening of Super Bowl Sunday 1996 to practice in-line skating at the tennis courts at Tustin High, where he encountered Christopher and Lindberg, authorities say. He was found stabbed to death the following morning by a worker at the school.

Christopher and Lindberg briefly shared a Tustin apartment, where white supremacist literature was found before their arrests. Lindberg’s trial is scheduled to begin in July.