OC Wekkly
Neftali promises appeal
A handcuffed Franco Edgar Neftali entered an Orange County courtroom this afternoon with a smirk on his face but by the time his sentencing hearing was over the 44-year-old killer found himself frowning after getting a 50 years to life prison sentence.
A jury convicted Neftali of fatally shooting 67-year-old Cambodian immigrant Son Neou in the head after he'd lost hundreds of dollars playing a Cambodian dice game at a Santa Ana apartment complex in 2007.
To the immense frustration of the victim's family, Neftali had a defense lawyer proclaim his innocence and declare that he had not received a fair trial before Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly's issued punishment.
An unamused Kelly rejected both assertions.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Scott Simons said Neftali was upset that he'd lost moneybefore the killing.
The victim's wife--a survivor of Khmer Rouge attrocities, son and daughter submitted touching, emotional impact statements.
"I can never forgive him," said the victim's visibly distraught son, Sam Son, who was a special forces soldier deployed in Iraq when his father was killed. "My mother lost everything . . . I'd rather have had two soldiers come to my mother and tell her I was killed than this."
Kelly asked Neftali if he wanted to address the court but the killer--a short, pudgy man who worked as an apartment manager--said through an interpreter, "I have nothing to comment."
"You will be transported to a state prison forthwith," said the judge.
--R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
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