Bookie who shot a man at Westminster club acquitted of murder, while jurors deadlock on manslaughter

A mistrial was declared Monday in the trial of a bookie who shot and killed an alleged loan shark and injured another man, after jurors acquitted him of murder but were unable to reach a verdict on a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Following more than two days of deliberations, jurors unanimously agreed that Minh Quang Tran did not commit either first or second-degree murder when he shot and killed Huy Phan during a Halloween party at Club Bleu in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2017.

Nine jurors were leaning toward a conviction for voluntary manslaughter, the jury foreman told Orange County Superior Court Judge Sheila Hanson, while three believed he was not guilty of the lesser charge either.

Tran, during his own testimony, admitted to shooting Phan outside the busy Westminster club.

Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera alleged that Tran ambushed an unsuspecting Phan in the parking lot, firing six shots from a revolver that struck Phan in his face and shoulder, and another man in the backside. Phan owed Tran money, the prosecutor told jurors, and both men had been in a relationship with the same woman.

“This isn’t a gunfight, it’s an execution,” Madera told jurors during her closing arguments.

Tran’s attorney, Cameron Talley, told jurors that Phan had previously threatened to kill Tran, that Phan had a history of domestic violence and had sexually assaulted the woman both men had a relationship with, and that Phan was known to carry a weapon and had threatened to kill Tran.

Talley, describing Phan as a “gun-toting loan shark,” described the fatal confrontation between the two men as a gunfight that Tran won. The defense attorney acknowledged that no gun was found near Phan, but speculated that either Phan was bluffing when he reached into his pocket, or someone took the gun away before police arrived.

“I submit to you he did deserve to die, because he tried to kill somebody,” Talley said of Phan to jurors during his closing arguments.

After his arrest, Tran told police that Phan had “ripped off a lot of people” and “deserved to die.” Talley told jurors that Tran was suicidal and under the influence of prescription drugs when he made those statements.

With the acquittals of the murder charges, prosecutors are left to decide whether to seek a retrial on a voluntary manslaughter charge. Madera declined to comment after the verdict as to whether she would move to retry Tran.