Guilty Verdict In Killing Of Hmong Hunter

Conviction On A Lesser Charge Rekindles Racial Tensions In Northern Wisconsin

(AP)  A guilty verdict provided little solace for the family of a Hmong hunter killed by a white former sawmill worker when they crossed paths while hunting squirrels in northern Wisconsin woods earlier this year.

Relatives of Cha Vang said they were angered and disappointed the all-white jury found 29-year-old James Nichols guilty of second-degree intentional homicide Friday instead of the first-degree charge he originally faced, reducing the possible penalty from life in prison to 60 years.

"In my native country, if you are guilty you are guilty. There is no first- or second-degree," said Yee Vang, the victim's older brother, through an interpreter.

Leaders of several Hmong groups expressed similar sentiments at the outcome of a case that has rekindled racial tensions in northern Wisconsin, where a Hmong deer hunter fatally shot six white hunters three years ago.

"The message sent to the Hmong community is that someone can shoot a Hmong hunter and not get the maximum sentence," said Tou Ger Xiong, spokesman for the Coalition for Community Relations in St. Paul, Minn. "What we found today was more division and broken bridges between our communities."

Vang, 30, of Green Bay, was born in Laos, fled to a refugee camp in Thailand and then immigrated to the U.S. with his family in 2004, his older brother Yee Vang said. Several hundred thousand Hmong fled Laos for the United States after the communists seized control in 1975. Many settled in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Nichols, a former sawmill worker from Peshtigo, claimed he acted in self-defense when he shot and stabbed Cha Vang during a confrontation last Jan. 5 in the Peshtigo Wildlife Area.

But prosecutor Roy Korte said in closing arguments that Nichols took advantage of the isolation in the woods to act on an "ugly trait" of prejudice against the Hmong.

Nichols also was convicted on charges of hiding a corpse and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Korte, an assistant attorney general for the state, hugged some of the victim's relatives immediately after the verdict. "Mr. Nichols is being held responsible for the murder of Cha Vang whether it's first- or second-degee intentional homicide," he said.

The victim's widow, Pang Vue, collapsed just outside the courtroom after the verdict and was carried away, moaning, by a sheriff's deputy. A family member said later that she fainted and was taken to a hospital but was expected to be OK.

Nichols appeared to fight back tears as he left the courtroom with his arms folded against his chest. "Mr. Nichols took the verdict very hard," defense lawyer Kent Hoffmann said. "We believe this was a case of self-defense."

Circuit Judge David Miron said a sentencing date would be set next week. He ordered Nichols taken to prison because he also faces five years for violating probation on a previous burglary charge.

During the four-day trial, prosecutors portrayed Nichols as prejudiced and a liar. They introduced two taped confessions and witness testimony to show how he had changed his story.

Nichols was arrested after he sought treatment at a hospital for gunshot wounds to both of his hands, about the same time Vang's hunting companions reported him missing. Nichols initially said an unknown gunman shot him miles from the wildlife area.

But he changed his story after a deputy asked why he did not call police, and he helped with the search for the body, leading investigators to the area where a search dog found it the next day, under a log and covered by leaves.

In his account, Nichols said he spotted Vang about 90 feet away while stalking a squirrel. He said Vang shot him in the hand with a .22-caliber rifle after he told Vang he was interfering with his hunt.

Nichols said he ducked behind a tree and took a "wild shot" at Vang with a shotgun. Vang then shot him again before Nichols rushed him, took away his gun and stabbed him twice in the neck with a pocketknife, he said.

But several witnesses disputed elements of his story; even a firearms expert called by the defense Friday said Vang appeared to have fired only once.

Nichols told investigators that he panicked after being shot, but Korte said recordings and witness accounts showed a different emotion.

"He never expresses any fear of Hmong, just anger, just hate," he said.

[nkl66]

Brianbwb, I am not suggesting we should accept any racism. I am saying they might not have enough evidence to convict on the other charge. I happen to be a minority myself. I just don%u2019t walk around with a chip on my shoulder.

[gkc99]

At least the shooter was not acquitted, as would have happened 50 years ago because he was white and the victim was not.

It does not seem there is enough here to support a conviction for 1st degree murder--he did not lie in wait for the victim, but a chance encounter escalated into violence.

It''s hard to see what is so great about being White that makes the White man look down his nose at others, whether Indians, Blacks, Hmongs. One also needs to look at where this murderer got his attitudes.

[Krazcarl]

We all come from imigrants even the natives ventured from asia USA is not the cradle of cizilizatin. My problem is when you decide to come to the USA you should have a desire to fit in learn the language and pe a part but we have and will continue to have imagrants that want to set up mini states of where they come from. Get real you can''t even talk on the phone and they give you language choices if I were to imigrate I would get to know the language for economic protection if nothing else and lets face it this country is not the basteen of jobs it once was.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by ubrew12,

On certain points, I agree with you, overpopulation will strain resources, and exacerbate tensions.

But as regards character, there are certain character traits we need to lose, racism and xenophobia being among the most dangerous.

When you think about it, America changed its character when the Europeans began their genocide of the natives in both North and South America, brought millions of people from Africa to be subjugated as slaves, welcomed immigrants before, during, and after the world wars, and so on. America, like the rest of the world, has been in constant flux character wise, and shall continue to be.

It is sad that the most salient and enduring of America''s character traits are the negative ones.

[brianbwb-2009]

They should look at the fact that they were lucky to get second-degree intentional homicide instead of nothing at all.
Posted by nkl66

So are you suggesting that they should accept the fact that racism is a part of the "white" psyche, and has been proven time and again to affect how justice is unequally applied in this country, and not speak against it, or do anything to change it? Dream on...

[ubrew12]

He [Nichols] got what he deserved.

We invited the Hmong here during the Vietnam War. Maybe we shouldn''t have, but we did. We need to quit being so generous to the worlds ''dispossessed'' if we don''t mean it. Americans need to take a good look at their open-doors policy and ask whether they really mean it, if it means overpopulating the West and North (the rest of the world is WAY overpopulated, hence the desire to move somewhere else).

I say this as a half-asian. I''ve lived in the West for 50 years and its character has changed with all the population pressures brought on by immigrants. We want to be generous, but we need to be careful or we''ll over-populate the West and North and end up in the same kind of trouble as so much of the rest of the world.

Nevertheless, the solution is not to target innocent Hmong hunting in the North. That''s just racial prejudice, nothing more. People of the West and North need to speak up and turn the tide of immigration, or they will lose the unique character of the West, as so many other rural areas in Asia and Latin America have lost THEIR unique character in the last 50 years to overpopulation.

Its NOT racial prejudice.

It IS recognizing that the psychological ''carrying capacity'' of a land is much lower than its physical ''carrying capacity''.

[grammawhamma]

You might be right gkc99. When I lived in Milwaukee...it was the whites hating the blacks. When I moved far up north...it was the whites hating the Native Americans. Then the Hmongs came and the whites forgot about the Native Americans and hated the hmongs. I am white and don''t hate any race.

[kjejj]

I don''t think that Vang should have had access to a gun.

[gkc99]

"I live in northern wisc. There is racial tension regarding the hmongs here. It escalated when a hmong hunter killed 6 white people that were hunting."--Posted by GrammaWhamma


Maybe the guy just snapped after being called a "***" once too often by some of the white supremacists around here. I''ve met numerous Hmong while hunting and they have been invariably friendly and polite. They love to hunt, as do I, and I would welcome them among my friends. More than I could say for some of the Whiteys!

[Krazcarl]

In Ga. he would have to serve 50 but don''t know about there state. But the judge can show leanacy. Here by law for a violent crime you have to serve 4/5 of your sentance before your eligible for parole the guy that shot my friend and I will have to do 40 a lot of states have these laws on the books.Of course theres appeals a new trial or a plea deal to avoid one lawyers will bleed this.