Thang Van Nguyen Guilty of Nearly Killing His Wife with Meat Cleaver

A 48-year-old man who attacked his wife with a meat cleaver in front of their children in Garden Grove was convicted Thursday of attempted voluntary manslaughter while sentencing enhancements for causing great bodily injury and the personal use of a deadly weapon were found true.

Thang Van Nguyen faces up to 11 years and six months in state prison at sentencing scheduled for Jan. 12 in Westminster.

On Jan. 19, 2016, Nguyen walked into a Garden Grove fire station to report he had attacked and murdered his 44-year-old wife. Firefighters called police, and a bloodied Huong Nguyen was found in her home and rushed to a hospital in critical condition.

The husband knew the wife had been cheating on him for about seven months, but the morning of the attack they began arguing in the bedroom they still shared, Mr. Nguyen went to the kitchen to fetch the meat cleaver and he returned to hit Mrs. Nguyen in the head with it.

The couple’s boys—one was age 8 and the other a teenager—saw the fight play out.

Their mother was comatose for the better part of two months, according to Deputy District Attorney Mark Geller.

He had sought an attempted murder conviction, but no doubt playing on the sympathies of jurors was Huong Nguyen’s testimony.

For the defense.

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