What the heck! Fine, I’ll leave. I climb down from the tree stand that someone hammered into the tree 20 feet above the ground. Not knowing the stand belongs to someone else, I also didn’t know I trespassed onto private property. I did not see any signs indicating I was on private property. I am also sort of lost so where do I go? Then some people show up and tell me to leave and start yelling at me. I ask them which direction I should head towards to get off their property. For some reason they keep on shouting racial slurs at me, calling me a gook and derogatory terms. What the heck is their problem? I keep walking away and then all of a sudden someone steps in front of me trying to prevent me from walking away. They all continue shouting racial slurs at me. I told them to fu*k off and let me go. Finally I am able to push pass the one standing in front of me and start walking away. The shouting and yelling continues. I turn back to see if they were leaving also and I see a guy on the ATV pull off his rifle from his left shoulder, points and shoots at me. I instantly duck to the ground and see the bullet struck the leaves near me. I automatically change into defense mode and take off my rifle as well. I turn to see where they are, point and boom! I start shooting back.
Such was the story defendant Chai Vang told the jurors in Sawyer County Courthouse on September 10, 2005. With a public defender, Chai’s main argument included self-defense and that he feared for his life but on September 16, 2005 the jurors convicted him of six first degree murders and two attempted murder. On November 8, 2005 Chai was sentenced to six consecutive life terms plus seventy years.
A huge controversy emerged from this incident ranging from topics such as racism and cultural differences to private property and social injustice. I’m just going to talk about one topic though. I am very disappointed by the fact that all jurors were Caucasian. I am not being racist or anything but isn’t it obvious that this incidence involves race? Even though the jurors were selected randomly, I still feel that none of the jurors understood and would never be able to understand Chai’s position, history and how that contributed to his reaction. It is even more obvious that Chai was guilty until proven innocent instead of “innocent until proven guilty” especially when the verdict was decided only after 12 hours. The jurors already came into the case with a biased perspective on Chai whether consciously or unconsciously.
The big question was, “Did Chai shoot first or did he shoot after being shot at to act in self-defense?” Unfortunately, the vision going into the trial was to prove that Chai didn’t shoot first. Instead, I believe the vision going into the trial should have been to prove that Chai shot first. In other words, he was already guilty in the eyes of the jurors, the public defender, and the people in court besides Chai’s family and relatives. The media even portrayed him as a dangerous man who lost his mind going on rampant killings.
Others argue that it doesn’t matter even if he shot first or not because he killed 6 people and injured 2 while some of them did not possess guns. All I have to say is you cannot deny the fact that there were other guns present and the others would have tried to kill Chai; particularly when he killed one of their friends/family members. Also, when you’re in a hostile situation similar to Chai, it’s either you die or they die. You choose.
I’m sure if Chai died instead, the others would not even receive accusations. Their story would have been taken as the truth and Chai would just be another case shoved under the rug without any investigation because investigation was insufficient even for this case. I would also like to point out that if Chai wasn’t Asian, but a white guy, this incidence would have never occurred. Instead, there probably would have been a nice greeting between the two parties.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not bummed out that the jurors found Chai guilty or am mad because Chai is Asian; I am pissed off at the resources dedicated for the trial and the unjust trial process.
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