Man accused in ex-girlfriend’s death takes plea deal rather than finish second trial

A man facing a life sentence if convicted of murder by a jury agreed to a sentence of 35 years in prison during the trial Monday.

Viet Nguyen, who was being tried simultaneously for aggravated assault, also agreed to accept a 20-year prison sentence on that charge, according to Samantha Jordan, Tarrant County district attorney office spokeswoman.

Nguyen’s first trial in July ended with a hung jury and his retrial began Wednesday. It ended Monday with the plea agreement. The two sentences will run concurrently, Jordan said.

“During the fourth day of Mr. Nguyen’s retrial, prosecutors approached us with a new plea bargain offer and Mr. Nguyen accepted,” said Defense Attorney Christy Jack, who handled the case with Letty Martinez.

Nguyen was accused of stalking and shooting his ex-girlfriend, Cam-Tu Tran, to death more than a year after he allegedly tried to choke her.

Jurors expecting to hear testimony placing Nguyen at the scene of the crime were released Monday after attorneys struck the bargain. One juror said they were not told about the mistrial until after this trial was over.

Attorneys presented transcripts of testimony from the first trial, although the jury was not aware they were hearing trial testimony, said Aaron Estes, who was chosen to be a juror on the case.

“We saw some of the social media messaging and some texts,” Estes said. “It was not threatening, but you could tell he was obsessed, with Tran and with the man. He just didn’t want to let go. “

Estes also said that it seemed like prosecutors were able to present more convincing evidence this time around.

“I would have hoped that we would have made the right decision in the end but I feel like justice was served,” Estes said. “I think the defense attorneys were counseling him to take a deal because they saw the way the trial was going.”

As part of the plea bargain, Nguyen gives up his right to appeal, said Chris McGregor, the Tarrant County assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case along with Allena Bangs.

Nguyen was also suspected of shooting the man who later identified him in a photo lineup, an arrest warrant affidavit said.

Police said Nguyen shot Tran, 30, and a man who was in the car with her on Jan. 9, 2017. Police found Tran about 1:30 a.m. in a parked Mercury Sable sedan in the 3400 block of Mayflower Court, outside a home in Arlington.

The man couldn’t give police a full interview at the time because he had been shot near his mouth, but he was able to identify Nguyen as the shooter in a photo lineup, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Tran’s family told police that she and Nguyen had been dating but that Tran had ended the relationship. After the breakup, Tran received phone calls from various numbers from a caller who never said a word, the affidavit said. Her car also had been keyed and her tires cut, her family told police.

Tran suspected Nguyen of making the phone calls and damaging her car.

In late 2015 or early 2016, Tran’s mother heard her screaming for help upstairs at their residence where Nguyen was visiting. Tran’s father went upstairs and Tran said Nguyen had tried to strangle her. Nguyen apologized and asked Tran’s parents not to ban him from the house, according to court documents.

But Tran told her parents that she didn’t feel safe around Nguyen and broke off the relationship in July 2016. A week before she died Tran told her father that she believed Nguyen was stalking her, and the family had security cameras installed inside and outside their residence because they feared him.

This story includes information from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published November 12, 2018 at 12:42 PM with the headline "Man accused in ex-girlfriend’s death takes plea deal rather than finish second trial."