SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 8 -- The only surviving gunman in a violent 1991 hostage siege at a Sacramento Good Guys electronics store was convicted Wednesday on all 51 counts and could be sentenced to death. After two days of deliberations, the jury found Loi K. Nguyen guilty of kidnapping, attempted murder and murder, verdicts that could mean the death penalty for the defendant. Nguyen, 25, wearing a white shirt and slacks, showed no emotion as the verdicts were translated for him by an interpreter. The defendant was one of four men to take over Good Guys April 4, 1991, and hold 38 people hostage for more than eight hours behind the store's glass windows. The standoff, captured on live television, came to a violent end when a SWAT team stormed the store. Three hostages and three of the four gunman were killed in the shootout. Two of the assailants were Nguyen's younger brothers. In negotiations with police during the standoff, Nguyen demanded $4 million and transportation to Thailand to help fight the Viet Cong. The trial was moved to San Francisco because of intense pre-trial publicity in Sacramento. Nguyen was charged with three counts of murder and eight counts of attempted murder, along with kidnaping and assault with a deadly weapon. During the four month trial, prosecutors argued that Nguyen was the mastermind behind the hostage incident. Prosecutor Don Steed said Nguyen negotiated with police, threatened to kill the hostages dozens of times and orchestrated the takeover.
Although the hostages were actually killed by one of Nguyen's brothers, the prosecution said the defendant had fired his gun inside the store and wounded at least one victim. Defense attorneys portrayed Nguyen as a misguided assailant who tried to work out a peaceful end to the siege. Attorney Linda Parisi said Nguyen's cultural background and misunderstandings contributed to the stalemate and shootout. Victims of the standoff expressed relief with the verdict. Veronica Gutierrez, the daughter of Fernando Gutierrez, who was killed in the standoff, said she hoped Nguyen would be sentenced to death. 'I want him to get the death penalty,' Gutierrez said. 'My whole family has been through so much. I want him to die.' Lisa Joseph, Gutierrez's niece who was also a hostage and suffered a miscarriage during the standoff, said Nguyen had tried to negotiate with police but could not reach a solution. 'He lost his power and became one of us at the end,' Joseph said. 'He just gave up and his brothers were going to kill him. But when he came in it was all for one and one for all and now he's living through a nightmare. God works in strange ways.'
