By Ronnie Cohen
SAN FRANCISCO, April 5 (Reuters) – A convicted felon who
U.S. authorities tried but failed to deport to Vietnam in 2006
pleaded not guilty on Thursday to killing five people found
murdered last month in a home in a quiet San Francisco
neighborhood.
Binh Thai Luc, 35, shook his head as he stood, shackled and
dressed in a red jail-issued sweatshirt and pants, while the
charges were read to him in court. A judge set his bail at $25
million.
He faces five counts of murder with the special allegation
of using a blunt instrument in the attack, the criminal
complaint said. The other special allegations are that Luc was
lying in wait for one victim, and that he committed the killings
during the course of a robbery and burglary.
The five Asian-American adults killed in the attack were
found dead at a home in the Ingleside neighborhood. Luc, who
pleaded not guilty to all the charges, was arrested two days
later.
Sharon Woo, chief assistant district attorney for San
Francisco, told the court her office has not decided whether to
seek the death penalty.
Prosecutors have released few details on the possible motive
for the slayings or why those people were targeted.
The criminal complaint against Luc lists a prior conviction
from the 1990s for second-degree robbery and assault with a
firearm, stemming from a robbery at a San Jose, California,
restaurant.
After he served eight years in San Quentin State Prison for
the robbery, an immigration judge ordered him deported to his
native Vietnam, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
spokeswoman Virginia Kice has said.
But she said immigration officials had to release him from
custody because Vietnam would not take him back.
The next court hearing in the case was set for May 3.
Luc’s attorney Mark Goldrosen said his client was a plumber
by trade.
(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and
Philip Barbara)
