Mai Gets Death Sentence

An Anaheim gang leader received the death sentence Friday for the 1996 killing of a California Highway Patrol rookie as the fallen officer’s family laid bare their bitter emotions.

Hung Thanh Mai, 29, sat stiffly in the Santa Ana courtroom as Superior Court Judge Richard L. Weatherspoon rendered his decision, calling the killing of Officer Don Burt Jr. a cold-blooded execution.

The officer’s 32-year-old widow, Kristin, told Weatherspoon: “For every bullet that entered my husband’s body and inflicted pain upon him, this animal deserves the death penalty.”

“And the one thing that I will never, ever forgive him for is leaving my son without a father,” said Kristin Burt, who was seven months pregnant when her husband was killed.

A CHP officer attending with several colleagues wiped away tears, as did others in the courtroom. Mai remained mostly quiet through Friday’s proceedings, his hands and legs shackled over an orange jail jumpsuit, his eyes cast down.

“Over the last three years, 11 months and 11 days, I pondered the just punishment [for Mai],” said Don Burt Sr., a veteran CHP officer whose footsteps his son wanted to follow. “The Mr. Mai I have seen is a sad parasite, a pathetic, loathsome individual.”

Mai gunned down the patrolman in a Fullerton parking lot nearly four years ago during a routine traffic stop. The officer had become suspicious when he found what he believed were counterfeit traveler’s checks in the trunk of Mai’s BMW. Before the officer had a chance to confront Mai, the slightly built gang member came out of the car firing a 9-millimeter semiautomatic gun. As Burt lay mortally wounded, Mai delivered a final shot to his head, authorities said.

Mai admitted to the murder and was convicted last year as part of a deal with federal prosecutors, who had charged him with dealing in weapons and ordering a murder for hire while in jail awaiting trial. He is currently serving a 25-year sentence for the federal crimes.

During the penalty phase of the trial, Mai shocked courtroom observers with his violent outbursts. Mai also threatened a prosecution witness and once had to be restrained by several deputies as he attempted to topple the defense table.

On the final day of testimony in April, Mai took the witness stand and said he was prepared to pay the ultimate price. “I believe in an eye for an eye,” he said. “There’s a price to pay for everything in life. . . . It’s part of the game.” It took the jury less than an hour to recommend the death sentence.

On Friday, Don Burt Sr. delivered his own message: “As Mr. Mai said, ‘It’s part of the game,’ then it is only appropriate that he should be ejected from the game of life.”

Next week, Mai will be transferred to a maximum security federal prison in Florence, Colo., to join the ranks of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and the two men convicted of bombing New York’s World Trade Center in 1993.

Mai “is the most highly secured prisoner in the federal system,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Marc Greenberg. “He was certainly a danger to society and continues to be a danger to other prisoners.”

Mai is under 24-hour surveillance and has restricted access to reading materials and visitors. He has vowed not to appeal his death sentence in the federal courts, but the state Supreme Court must automatically review his case.

If the sentence is upheld, he will be transferred to San Quentin’s death row. Authorities estimate it may be five to 10 years before he could be executed.