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Burt Case Defendant Waives Jury Trial

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<i> CITY NEWS SERVICE</i>

In a move a prosecutor called “tantamount” to pleading guilty, a Vietnamese gang leader accused of killing a highway patrolman asked a judge today to decide his fate based on testimony from an earlier hearing.

Hung Thanh Mai waived his right to a jury trial, and his lawyers submitted transcripts of testimony from his preliminary hearing to Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard Weatherspoon. The judge will issue a ruling next Friday.

“There’s a good possibility, based on what attorneys have told me, you’ll be found guilty,” Weatherspoon warned the defendant.

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Outside the courtroom, Deputy Dist. Atty. Chris Evans added that the outcome is all but certain: “It is tantamount to a guilty plea.”

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against Mai, 28, for the July 13, 1996, slaying of rookie California Highway Patrol Officer Don Burt.

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