Friday, October 10, 1997
Community Briefs
Jury advises death penalty for hate crime
An Orange County jury recommended the death penalty Thursday for
an alleged racist convicted of killing a Vietnamese-American man
out of racial hatred.
Gunner Lindberg, 24, was convicted Sept. 30 of the January,
1996, for the stabbing and stomping death of 24-year-old Thien Minh
Ly. The jury began deliberating his penalty phase on Tuesday.
Ly, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, and
Georgetown University, was stabbed about 50 times and his head was
stomped on Jan. 28, 1996. The 24-year-old was attacked while
in-line skating on a tennis court at Tustin High School.
During the trial, Lindberg’s cousin, Walter Dulaney, testified
Lindberg had told him in a letter that he had "killed a Jap," that
the act felt "better than a drug," and that it was done on behalf
of a "racial movement."
White supremacist literature was found in the home Lindberg
shared with Domenic Christopher, who was convicted earlier this
year of first-degree murder for witnessing the attack. Christopher,
now 18, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Lindberg’s attorney, David Zimmerman, insisted the letter was
merely a boast and that his client picked up details of the murder
from news reports.
The attorneys for both defendants denied an attempted robbery
allegation, and Zimmerman denied racism was a motive.
Lindberg will be formally sentenced Dec. 12.
UCLA Academy to train ambulance drivers
UCLA has entered into a partnership to train emergency medical
technicians (EMTs). In conjunction with a private company, American
Medical Response, the EMT Academy will start teaching classes in
October 1997.
UCLA’s Center for Prehospital Care has developed the curriculum
for the program.
The curriculum reflects a change in the nature of emergency
medical services. While the traditional training has been based on
responding to trauma-related calls, the current hospital training
requires something a little bit different. Now, a larger proportion
of EMT routes are driving patients in between different medical
facilities.
The new training center will provide 200 hours of training, 50
of which UCLA-trained instructors will have directly overseen. The
training will include critical thinking, problem-solving skills,
and participation in hands-on training in internships.
In addition, the training will provide specialized orientation
services to get the students internships with American Medical
Response.
Wilson gives UCs funds to study smog
Gov. Pete Wilson signed a bill today, in a package of
air-quality legislation, that will give the University of
California $500,000 to study smog.
The bill, by Sen. Richard Mountjoy, R-Monrovia, will earmark the
sum for studies of a chemical that is causing increasing
controversy with environmentalists and air-quality experts.
This chemical is methyltertiarybutyl ether, or MTBE, an
oxygenate added to gasoline to make it burn more cleanly.
The bill will give the University of California $500,000 to
study the health and environmental risks of MTBE. The bill also
requires the governor to take appropriate action, including banning
MTBE, if the study finds there is, in fact, a health problem.
compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports.