CASE OF INTEREST
Date: August 8, 2001
Case: LUE LEE
Contact: Deputy District Attorney Valerie Brown
Domestic Violence Unit
Telephone: 874-8689
District Attorney Jan Scully announced that Lue Lee was sentenced today
to 11 years plus life in prison with the possibility of parole, after
being convicted of the attempted murder and aggravated mayhem committed
against his wife on September 20, 2000. Lee was also convicted of child
abuse for beating his four-year-old daughter with a metal fly swatter.
Lee struck his wife, Bao Vang, more than 15 times with a large meat
cleaver, severing two of Ms. Vang's fingers from her right hand and
partially severing both ears. Ms. Vang lost approximately 2/3 of her
blood as a result of multiple lacerations to her head, face, neck, arms,
and back. Many of the blows were inflicted with such force that the
lacerations extended down to and into the bone.
The attack followed Ms. Vang's admonishment to Lee that he was hitting
their four-year-old daughter too hard with a metal fly swatter. Lee
then attacked his wife from behind as she sat on a small stool in their
living room doing needlework. Also in the room were four of the couple's
children (ages 2, 4, 5 and 12). The 12 year old immediately fled and
jumped out a bedroom window to summon help. Ms. Vang testified at trial
that the last thing she recalled before passing out were the cries of
her three younger children who witnessed the entire incident.
Deputy District Attorney Valerie Brown stated that this was one of
the most horrific cases of domestic violence the unit has prosecuted.
"Lue Lee essentially sentenced his wife and young children to a
lifetime of physical and psychological pain. Despite his potential eligibility
for parole, justice will truly be served only by Lee spending the remainder
of his life in prison."
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