Cuong Viet Nguyen, 29, formerly of Garden Grove (OC District Attorney)

A former fugitive who got caught after being featured on “America’s Most Wanted” faces trial Wednesday for killing a man in Stanton in 2005 by shooting him six times after an argument in a bar, the Orange County District Attorney’s office announced.

Cuong Viet Nguyen, 29, a former Garden Grove resident, is charged with murder, attempted murder and sentencing enhancements for using a firearm in the crimes. The defendant already has one strike from a 1998 robbery, and he could face 144 years to life in prison in convicted.

Opening statements in the trial are scheduled for Wednesday morning in Orange County Superior Court.

Prosecutors say that on June 26, 2005, Nguyen and a group of friends went to the All Star Bar in Stanton and got in a fight inside the bar with another group of men, including Tri Van Bui.

Nguyen and an unknown man allegedly waited outside the bar for Bui, chased him and beat him in the head with their belts. When Bui was on the ground, prosecutors say, Nguyen pulled a firearm and shot him six times, killing him. Nguyen also is accused of shooting and wounding another victim, Michael Le.

Nguyen allegedly fled, and a warrant was issued for his arrest in 2006.

After being featured on the television program “America’s Most Wanted” in 2008, a tip from a viewer led investigators to Phoenix, where Nguyen was located and arrested in June 2008.

Nguyen was brought to Orange County from Arizona on June 18, 2008, to face charges.

Tags: America's Most Wanted, Cuong Viet Nguyen, Garden Grove, O.C. District Attorney, OC Superior Court, Stanton, Tri Van Bui

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 7:43 am and is filed under Courts-Crime, Homicide-Blog . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.