Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 24, 1994                   TAG: 9407260012
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Medium

SUSPECT'S 4TH TRIAL IS ORDEAL FOR VICTIM

Each time he takes the stand and recalls the details of the Nov. 11, 1990, attack, he must deal with how his life has changed.

``It makes me think of what I used to do before,'' the Vietnamese refugee said in soft, carefully measured words in an interview conducted through an interpreter. ``I really can't do anything now.

``I feel anger. I'm disappointed, and I'm sad. I really can't do anything about it.''

The first two Fairfax County Circuit Court trials of the man Nguyen says attacked him, Anh Tuan Vuong, ended in convictions for attempted robbery and aggravated malicious wounding. But in each case a new trial was ordered.

The jury in the third trial reported late Thursday that it was hopelessly deadlocked, and a fourth trial has been scheduled for Aug. 30.

Nguyen, 61, will have to repeat his agonizing story again.

He was working in his Fairfax County restaurant, Vietnamese Taste, when a man approached him and demanded money. When Nguyen did not comply, the man stuck a knife into Nguyen's head, severing nerves and permanently blinding him.

One or two men then stabbed Nguyen 21 times in the chest, neck and arms before leaving him for dead in a pool of blood.

Vuong, a 23-year-old Vietnamese carpenter, has testified that he was never at the restaurant that day. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

Lawyers say it is highly unusual for a criminal defendant to face trial two or three times for the same offense. Four trials, they said, is extraordinary.

``I've never seen anything like it or heard anything like it,'' said Vuong's attorney, Richard Shadyac Jr.

Prosecutor John Murphy said the state is seeking a fourth trial because ``this is a very important case.'' Murphy declined to comment further.

Confusion has been a hallmark of the case. Language and cultural barriers have been factors, and several witnesses have changed their stories since the 1990 incident.

After Vuong's first conviction in 1991, Judge Jack B. Stevens ordered a second trial because a new defense witness had been identified. After the second conviction in 1992, the Virginia Court of Appeals ordered a third, citing a procedural error in the second.

Language was a constant problem during last week's three-day trial.

The prosecutor and defense attorney sparred for almost an hour over the translation of a few words in a letter that Shadyac said absolved Vuong of the crime. Vuong also testified that when police questioned him in 1990 without an interpreter, he did not understand some of the questions.

A second Vietnamese suspect, Nghia Vo, was acquitted of the same charges Vuong faces, but he later received a 10-year sentence for perjury committed at his trial.

A third Vietnamese man, Vu Ly, who confessed that he drove the getaway car after the attack, pleaded guilty to wounding and attempted robbery charges and was sentenced to 25 years.