...[Deputy District Attorney, Robert] Clancy said Vue's wife, Chia Vue, and Lo were "engaged in an intimate relationship, so we have motive for the defendant to participate" in the homicide... Chia Vue filed for divorce in September. But Padilla said Friday that Chia Vue indicated she has rescinded her petition for divorce...(See previous entries here)
Prosecutor sees possible motive in shooting of Vacaville prison guard
Sacramento Bee
By Kim Minugh, kminugh@sacbee.com
Nov. 01, 2008
As family members began a four-day Hmong ritual to mourn correctional officer Steve Lo, a deputy district attorney said Friday that Lo was having an extramarital affair with the wife of a former Sacramento County sheriff's deputy, providing a possible motive for Lo's slaying. Robert Clancy discussed the relationship in Sacramento Superior Court while arguing against a motion to reduce bail for former Deputy Chu Vue. Vue has been in jail for the last week on an unrelated felony charge of possessing an illegal weapon. Police consider Vue a "principal" in the investigation into Lo's killing, but have not charged him in connection with that case. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail – 10 times the standard amount for an illegal weapons charge. Judge Steve White sided with Clancy, and Vue, 43, remained in custody late Friday... While searching Vue's Elk Grove home the day of Lo's death, police found a cache of guns, including an unregistered .223-caliber assault rifle, which prompted the illegal weapons charge. During Friday's bail hearing, Clancy said Vue's wife, Chia Vue, and Lo were "engaged in an intimate relationship, so we have motive for the defendant to participate" in the homicide. He also said Vue used a Sheriff's Department computer to look up Lo's address before he was killed. Lowering bail posed a risk, Clancy said, in part because Vue had expressed to police a desire to travel to Thailand in the near future. Vue also has two fugitive brothers who are wanted on murder warrants out of Minnesota, Clancy said... Sacramento bail bondsman Tony Padilla said he has been in contact with Vue's wife, Chia, about raising the funds to back a $500,000 bail amount. Chia Vue filed for divorce in September. But Padilla said Friday that Chia Vue indicated she has rescinded her petition for divorce and has discussed using the couple's property holdings – three homes and some land near Galt – to back the $500,000 bail. Padilla said "that would be a stretch" for the property to secure such a large bond. Attorney Lee confirmed that Chia Vue is in the process of dismissing her petition for divorce. "She loves her husband and they want to work things out," Lee said. Meanwhile, a four-day traditional Hmong funeral is under way to memorialize Lo. With the din of family members in the background Friday, his widow, 31-year-old Sia Vang, told The Bee she was glad to hear that Vue's motion to reduce bail had been denied... Asked about her late husband's alleged affair, Vang said she did not believe it. She described the relationship between Lo and Vue's wife as being on a "professional level" only... [Full article here]
Fired Sacramento sheriff's deputy released on bail
ReplyDeleteSacramento Bee
By Kim Minugh kminugh@sacbee.com
Nov. 06, 2008
The former Sacramento County sheriff's deputy being investigated in connection with the killing of a correctional officer last month was released from jail Wednesday after posting bail.
Chu Vue's bail had been set at $500,000 – 10 times the usual amount for the weapons possession charge he faces. Vue, 43, made bail with the help of Good Luck Bail Bonds of Fresno.
After being transferred from the Yolo County jail, where he had been in custody since his Oct. 23 arrest, Vue left Sacramento's Main Jail about 2:15 p.m., said sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran.
Vue has surrendered his passport and plans to stay in the area, said one of his attorneys, Thomas Johnson of Sacramento.
"He is relieved to be out of custody and he is happy to be home with his wife and children," he said.
Johnson and co-counsel Pa Lai Lee of Fresno had asked a judge last week to reduce Vue's bail to $50,000, but their request was denied.
Vue faces a felony charge of possessing an unregistered assault rifle – found by Sacramento police as they searched his Elk Grove home the day correctional officer Steve Lo was gunned down in his south Sacramento garage.
Police do not believe Vue's rifle was used to kill Lo.
Vue has pleaded not guilty; his preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Police have not called Vue a suspect in the Oct. 15 slaying of Lo, a guard at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.
And they have said they do not believe Vue pulled the trigger.
In documents filed with the court earlier this month, however, a police detective said Vue's behavior in recent months indicated he was "involved in the planning and/or the execution" of Lo's killing.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Clancy told the court last week that Lo had been having an affair with Vue's wife, Chia Vue, providing a potential motive for the killing. Lo and Chia Vue worked together at the California Medical Facility.
Chia Vue filed for divorce from her husband in September, but is in the process of withdrawing her divorce petition, Lee said last week.
Vue was fired at his Oct. 27 arraignment hearing after 13 years with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff John McGinness has said Vue was terminated "for violations of administrative policy of the department."
Clancy said in court last week that Vue used a department computer to look up Lo's address prior to the homicide. Such an act is a violation of Penal Code 502 – unauthorized use of computers and data – but Vue has not been charged with that offense.
Call The Bee's Kim Minugh, (916) 321-1038.
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1374756.html
Three homes and a farm in N. California! Some folks are never satisfied with their lives and this tragedy has to happen.
ReplyDeleteLo should have kept his pants zipped. Now his wife will be the one looking for someone new. Now that's irony!
ReplyDelete