Mike Sakal,
East Valley Tribune (Phoenix, Arizona, USA)
For the last five months, the life of Chandler resident Paul Ea has been dramatically different than the life he led as a happily married man.
After he gets up in the morning to go to his technician’s job at General Dynamics in Scottsdale, it is he who now sees their daughter, Alisa, 9, off to school. It is no longer necessary for Ea to go the mini-mart convenience store inside an east Phoenix apartment complex to help his wife, Nisay Kang, stock the shelves and run the store the couple owned for a short time this year.
Last May, Nisay Kang, 36, was beaten and stabbed to death at that store.
Ea, 37, also said he sometimes has trouble sleeping at night. He has put off a job promotion offer as he prepares to follow the trial of an unemployed 20-year-old man accused of murdering Kang the morning of May 25 at the complex at 815 N. 52nd St.
Jesus Arturo Martinez, a former resident of the complex whom the couple knew and often gave merchandise to when he couldn’t pay, is accused of killing Kang. He has pleaded innocent to first-degree murder, third-degree burglary, robbery and kidnapping.
Maricopa County prosecutors are pushing for the death penalty for Martinez. Both defense and prosecuting attorneys are due to submit a joint report on the case to Judge Silvia Arellano on Oct. 31. A hearing on the report, which involves a proposed trial date required to be scheduled before Dec. 11, will be held before the judge on Nov. 2.
“I want to see Jesus Martinez get the death penalty,” Ea said. “That (expletive). He didn’t have to do what he did. He could have taken her purse without killing her, that wouldn’t have mattered.”
AGGRAVATING FACTORS
County prosecutors plan to show aggravating factors in the case such as the heinous manner of the crimes, Martinez’s prior felony convictions including marijuana possession in 2005, and that he had planned to monetarily benefit from robbing Kang’s store, according to a county court document.
Martinez told Phoenix police he “was drugged up” and went into the store to “take her money,” according to a Phoenix police report. Martinez admitted to stabbing Kang with a pair of scissors after beating her with his fists inside the mini-mart at the 768-unit complex near the Scottsdale-Tempe border as Kang was preparing to open the store, according to the Phoenix police report.
Kang died of sharp and blunt force trauma to the head and neck, according to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“I saw the wall where he smashed her head,” Ea said. “I never hit anyone that hard in my life.”
When police executed a search warrant inside the apartment where Martinez was staying with friends at the complex, they found Kang’s purse and a pair of bloody scissors inside of it, according to the police report.
Police also seized Martinez’s blood-stained clothes and $498 in blood-stained currency that included one $100 bill, four $50 bills, eight $20 bills, one $5 bill and 33 $1 bills, the report said.
DRUG USE ASSERTED
John Canby, a Maricopa County legal defender representing Martinez, told the Tribune that Martinez is not denying the accusations against him.
However, Canby said that by being a capital case, its trial likely will not begin until December 2008 because of the backlog of capital cases in the county court system.
Currently 132 death-penalty cases are pending in the Maricopa County Superior Court to date, according to court records.
County prosecutors have not made a plea offer to Martinez, according to Canby.
“My client was under the influence of cocaine at the time of the incident, but he realizes that’s not any excuse for what he did,” Canby said.
“He’s taking full responsibility for what happened, and we think that can be done without the death penalty.”
A witness told police he saw Martinez hurriedly leaving the gated swimming pool area behind the store that morning, carrying a purse, and when Martinez saw the man, he slowed down and waved to him, the report read.
Moments later, the witness found Kang’s body inside the store after a woman trying to get inside alerted him that something might be wrong because candy racks were blocking its doors, according to the report.
Martinez was indicted on the charges by a county grand jury in June. He is being held in the Maricopa County Fourth Avenue Jail without bond.
100-DAY CEREMONY
Ea and Kang, who were married for 11 years, had emigrated to the United States from Battambang, Cambodia, the second largest city in that country. Paul Ea’s and Nisay Kang’s fathers both died during the violent Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s, and the couple was seeking a better life. Kang was fulfilling her dream of running her own business so they could be better off in their golden years. Since his wife’s death, Ea has sold the store and it was re-opened early last month.
“I just wanted to get rid of it,” Ea said. “I sold it for about half of what we paid for it. She was so happy to be there and loved to talk to all the customers.”
Ea recently returned from a trip to Cambodia with Alisa and Nisay’s mother where about 300 family members and friends honored Kang with a Sept. 1 ceremony marking 100 days since her death. The Buddhist ceremony is held so the departed person’s spirit can move on. Gifts of food, money and clothing were donated so Nisay can have a reward in death, Ea said.
“That was what hurt me the most,” Ea said of the ceremony and returning to Cambodia where his family vacationed last year. “It is time for her spirit to move on. Before that, I always felt that she was around me. It was hard to face Nisay’s family. They had a lot of questions about her death. I lost 10 pounds the first week I was there. The trip started out bad, but it got better.”
Ea said Alisa, a fourth grader, is getting all Bs in school, and receiving some counseling to help her deal with the grief of her mother being gone.
“She misses her mom, and it shows up from time to time,” Ea said. “I think of Nisay every day. I loved her very much and will never forget her.”
After he gets up in the morning to go to his technician’s job at General Dynamics in Scottsdale, it is he who now sees their daughter, Alisa, 9, off to school. It is no longer necessary for Ea to go the mini-mart convenience store inside an east Phoenix apartment complex to help his wife, Nisay Kang, stock the shelves and run the store the couple owned for a short time this year.
Last May, Nisay Kang, 36, was beaten and stabbed to death at that store.
Ea, 37, also said he sometimes has trouble sleeping at night. He has put off a job promotion offer as he prepares to follow the trial of an unemployed 20-year-old man accused of murdering Kang the morning of May 25 at the complex at 815 N. 52nd St.
Jesus Arturo Martinez, a former resident of the complex whom the couple knew and often gave merchandise to when he couldn’t pay, is accused of killing Kang. He has pleaded innocent to first-degree murder, third-degree burglary, robbery and kidnapping.
Maricopa County prosecutors are pushing for the death penalty for Martinez. Both defense and prosecuting attorneys are due to submit a joint report on the case to Judge Silvia Arellano on Oct. 31. A hearing on the report, which involves a proposed trial date required to be scheduled before Dec. 11, will be held before the judge on Nov. 2.
“I want to see Jesus Martinez get the death penalty,” Ea said. “That (expletive). He didn’t have to do what he did. He could have taken her purse without killing her, that wouldn’t have mattered.”
AGGRAVATING FACTORS
County prosecutors plan to show aggravating factors in the case such as the heinous manner of the crimes, Martinez’s prior felony convictions including marijuana possession in 2005, and that he had planned to monetarily benefit from robbing Kang’s store, according to a county court document.
Martinez told Phoenix police he “was drugged up” and went into the store to “take her money,” according to a Phoenix police report. Martinez admitted to stabbing Kang with a pair of scissors after beating her with his fists inside the mini-mart at the 768-unit complex near the Scottsdale-Tempe border as Kang was preparing to open the store, according to the Phoenix police report.
Kang died of sharp and blunt force trauma to the head and neck, according to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“I saw the wall where he smashed her head,” Ea said. “I never hit anyone that hard in my life.”
When police executed a search warrant inside the apartment where Martinez was staying with friends at the complex, they found Kang’s purse and a pair of bloody scissors inside of it, according to the police report.
Police also seized Martinez’s blood-stained clothes and $498 in blood-stained currency that included one $100 bill, four $50 bills, eight $20 bills, one $5 bill and 33 $1 bills, the report said.
DRUG USE ASSERTED
John Canby, a Maricopa County legal defender representing Martinez, told the Tribune that Martinez is not denying the accusations against him.
However, Canby said that by being a capital case, its trial likely will not begin until December 2008 because of the backlog of capital cases in the county court system.
Currently 132 death-penalty cases are pending in the Maricopa County Superior Court to date, according to court records.
County prosecutors have not made a plea offer to Martinez, according to Canby.
“My client was under the influence of cocaine at the time of the incident, but he realizes that’s not any excuse for what he did,” Canby said.
“He’s taking full responsibility for what happened, and we think that can be done without the death penalty.”
A witness told police he saw Martinez hurriedly leaving the gated swimming pool area behind the store that morning, carrying a purse, and when Martinez saw the man, he slowed down and waved to him, the report read.
Moments later, the witness found Kang’s body inside the store after a woman trying to get inside alerted him that something might be wrong because candy racks were blocking its doors, according to the report.
Martinez was indicted on the charges by a county grand jury in June. He is being held in the Maricopa County Fourth Avenue Jail without bond.
100-DAY CEREMONY
Ea and Kang, who were married for 11 years, had emigrated to the United States from Battambang, Cambodia, the second largest city in that country. Paul Ea’s and Nisay Kang’s fathers both died during the violent Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s, and the couple was seeking a better life. Kang was fulfilling her dream of running her own business so they could be better off in their golden years. Since his wife’s death, Ea has sold the store and it was re-opened early last month.
“I just wanted to get rid of it,” Ea said. “I sold it for about half of what we paid for it. She was so happy to be there and loved to talk to all the customers.”
Ea recently returned from a trip to Cambodia with Alisa and Nisay’s mother where about 300 family members and friends honored Kang with a Sept. 1 ceremony marking 100 days since her death. The Buddhist ceremony is held so the departed person’s spirit can move on. Gifts of food, money and clothing were donated so Nisay can have a reward in death, Ea said.
“That was what hurt me the most,” Ea said of the ceremony and returning to Cambodia where his family vacationed last year. “It is time for her spirit to move on. Before that, I always felt that she was around me. It was hard to face Nisay’s family. They had a lot of questions about her death. I lost 10 pounds the first week I was there. The trip started out bad, but it got better.”
Ea said Alisa, a fourth grader, is getting all Bs in school, and receiving some counseling to help her deal with the grief of her mother being gone.
“She misses her mom, and it shows up from time to time,” Ea said. “I think of Nisay every day. I loved her very much and will never forget her.”
13 comments:
Will there be any justice in the US for Khmer People?
Let's hear it, folks.
America will find justice for killing the innocent people. I felt sorrow for the 9 years old daughter who won't see her mom again for the rest of her life. Imagine she started to know and put her mom memory in her mind, now she's gone forever.
I myself have children around the same age and I can feel how painful it is to lost someone you love.
I bless this family to get strong and justice will prevail.
This man doesn't value human life. Don't say he is unconscious because he uses illigal drug. When he killed someone, he knows what consequense will cause him and he deserves to die as his victim was.
I think drug is an evil product to drag young people into killing crimes in everywhere on the globe. Offcourse this killer will be punished by death penalty in USA for his killing to this poor family. I really sorry to hear this sad story. Everyone has work hard to earn their hard income for the benefit to save their retirement and the confort of their children. But those who have benefited from drugs distribution should have also prosecuted and all their assets should be confiscicated. THe same these problems have happened every day in Cambodia. All beneficiaires of the drugs monies are all from high ranking offcials ( untouchable) and all Oknha like OUm Chhay ( Heng Samrin'advisor). His aasets should have now completely confiscicated and put it into a trust to help for rehabitation purposes instead of leaving for his family to enjoy. Areak Prey
Hey, are we talking about Cambodia or the US, 2:27? We all know the Khmer justice system is far superior than westerners. You guys are just jealous by picking on our trivial imperfection and blow it out of proportion. That is no intelligent by any standard that I've known off.
Hello 2:44Am Can you tell me what is the laws of Cambodia with regard of this killings and the drugs monies?
To 1:26 A.M.
There will be justice for Nisay. There is no ifs or buts about it. One way or the other, the man responsible will face the full impact of the law. The question now ... will he receive a death penalty or life in prison. Either way --he will no longer be a free man. If by some miracles, he walks free -- he will be a death man walking.
This is America and in America --justice gets done and done fairly
3:22, get real. Here we have a dead hard working law-abiding citizen in our hand. How many justices can there be? What is with the stupid question? Would you mind elaborate? Isn't justice universal as your westerner trained people have been bragging about non-stop?
To 3:46 A.M.
My dear friend...sitting in jail awaiting to be put on trial and receiving a sentence is as real as one can get in light of the crime Mr. Martinez has committed.
As to your question of "how many justice can there be?", I am unclear as to your reference in regard to Mr. Martinez's crime. If you refer to the degree and types of punishment for specific crime in the U.S., perhaps, your may contact the justice department and a public law clerk would be more than happy to assist. Also the local and federal courts locate within individual state in the union would have penal codes for specific type of crime available to the public.
Forgive me 3:46 A.M., the rest of your questions are disjointed and appear to have nothing to do with Mr Nisay and Mr. Martinez case. May I suggest a re-evaluation of the article on Ms. Nisay and the case associate with it. Let us stick to the facts of the case and not deviate from its original premises.
This article does not talk about whether the law advocates are western or eastern trained. It does not talk about justice is universal or some such. Several of your latter questions were addressed out of context and not in the purview of the article. And as such, please forgive me, if an answer is not provided to you.
Furthermore, if philosophical discussion on crime and punishment were the intend of your last several questions, may I also refer you to the many law universities in the United States. Professors of laws in those universities would be more than happy to help you.
7:14, stop making the case more complicated than it really is. We don't have to have a Phd to know what justice Nisay Kang deserved, okay? His killer was found guilty, and we all know what sentences he should get. The question is whether the US justice system will provide Nisay Kang the justice he deserved. Do you know what I am talking about now?
7:39: No, the killer has not been found guilty. He has yet gone to trial. As to what punishment he should receive, that decision is in the hands of the court, not the victim's family or friends. You seem to be implying that anything less than the death penalty would not be justice. That's your prerogative, of course. Others may disagree.
9:30, the killer confessed, and the evidences is overwhelming. Let me quote below:
"Martinez told Phoenix police he “was drugged up” and went into the store to “take her money,” according to a Phoenix police report. Martinez admitted to stabbing Kang with a pair of scissors after beating her with his fists inside the mini-mart at the 768-unit complex near the Scottsdale-Tempe border as Kang was preparing to open the store, according to the Phoenix police report.
"Kang died of sharp and blunt force trauma to the head and neck, according to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“I saw the wall where he smashed her head,” Ea said. “I never hit anyone that hard in my life.”
"When police executed a search warrant inside the apartment where Martinez was staying with friends at the complex, they found Kang’s purse and a pair of bloody scissors inside of it, according to the police report.
"Police also seized Martinez’s blood-stained clothes and $498 in blood-stained currency that included one $100 bill, four $50 bills, eight $20 bills, one $5 bill and 33 $1 bills, the report said."
Now tell me if you find any innocent in the killer?
And yes, a death penalty is just, and that is why the family appropriately seeking it. Wouldn't you? What is so unfair about that? Do I have to have a Phd to persuade you what justice is for this case?
Would it be fair to say that the following comments are made by the same commentator: 1:26 a.m.; 3:46 a.m.; 7:39 a.m. and 10:02 a.m.?
First off and if you are the same individual, I appreciate your effort at reviewing the article in more detail.
Secondly, thank you for clarifying your position in regard to the type of justice you desired for Mr. Martinez in regard to the case involving him and Ms. nisay. Based on your last piece, we can safely say that you favor a death penalty.
Finally, sir, if the death penalty was what you've desired for Mr. Martinez, why did you not just said so at the beginning instead of posting question and attacking those who respond to you.
Your writing simply has too much "plai Pka" and in the process it generates too much dissenting voice and generally creating a negative atmosphere for Khmer commentators. Truly, sir who are you...?
11:47, Yes, I am those bloggers that you mentioned.
My first post 1:26 is clear to most people which implying that the killer should get Death sentence for the death that he caused. And that is what we called justice. Now, if the court should throw out the case because, the arrest what not proper or some other silly technicality, then that would not be justice.
And the question is will the khmer victim get justice (or the sought Death Sentence) in the US? What is so foul about the question?
As for me writing too much, would you mind be specific about it?
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