Voices from the Vang Trial
Following a week-long trial, jurors took only three hours to find St. Paul truck-driver, Chai Vang, guilty on all counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of six hunters. The fatal confrontation between the hunters and Vang erupted in the fall of 2004 over a trespassing dispute.
Vang and his attorneys claimed he shot in self-defense, following racial taunts and threatening actions from the six hunters. The prosecution, headed by Wisconsin's Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager, argued Vang was angered by being told to leave the deer stand he was occupying, and he exercised his military training to the fullest in chasing down the fleeing hunters.
The verdict was announced on the late afternoon of Friday, September 16th, 2005. The jurors were then polled
to verify the verdict.
Click here to listen to the breaking news on the Ideas Network, between WPR's Gil Halsted and Randall Davidson. Or click here for the update on the NPR/Classical Music Network, with Halsted and ATC Host Catherine Brand.
Among the voices gathered from the Hayward trial:
Chaou Vang,
saying she's glad her brother shot the hunters.....(:32)
Deu Khang,
on why she's proud her husband defended himself and why the victims deserved it......(:41)
Kia Vang, Chai Vang's eldest daughter,
on what the verdict means for the family...(:25)
Heather Drew, daughter of victim Dennis Drew, calling for healing within her family and relatives of Chai Vang...(:41)
Linda Levan, sister of victim Alan Laski, remembering her late brother...(:33)
Tou Ger Xiong, a Hmong hunter from St. Paul. Here he describes how he feels the media misrepresented Vang as a cold-blooded killer...(2:45)
Tou Ger Xiong describing other incidents of harassment of Hmong hunters, and his concern that the Vang trial may make Hmong hunters afraid to go hunting in the woods...(3:05)
Tou Ger Xiong, explaining why he thinks Chai Vang's statement that some of the hunters "deserved to die" may have been misinterpreted because of cultural and linguistic differences between Hmong and English...(1:19)
