Death penalty decision goes to jurors

By: JOHN HALL - Staff Writer
Prosecutor tells jury Lake Elsinore murderer deserves to die; defense begs for mercy | Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:23 PM PST ∞

FRENCH VALLEY -- It is literally a matter of life or death.

Starting this morning, seven women and five men will begin discussing whether convicted murderer Tony Ricky Yonko should be put to death or instead sent to prison for the rest of his life.

By law, the jury must find that the "aggravating factors" of this crime and of Yonko's life substantially outweigh the less severe, or "mitigating factors" they heard about before deciding in favor of the death penalty.

Last month, this same jury convicted Yonko, 45, of the Oct. 22, 2002, first-degree murder of 41-year-old Paul Dinh Ngo, who was beaten to death with a hammer in his Lake Elsinore home during a burglary. Ngo's body was found by two of his three young sons when they walked home after their father didn't pick them up from school.

On Tuesday, jurors heard impassioned, even emotional arguments from attorneys on both sides at Southwest Justice Center.

On one side, prosecutor Stephen Gallon implored the jury to sentence the Lake Elsinore man to death.

"That is the just penalty for this crime ... and for what this man has done in his life," he told them.

Later, Gallon said, "As Paul Ngo lay there dying, all Tony Yonko could think of was his greed."

"Did Paul Ngo beg for his life? Did he even have a chance?" Gallon asked. "This defendant shows no mercy, no sympathy. Paul Ngo deserved mercy and he didn't get it."

Instead, Gallon said, Yonko stepped over Ngo's body, not shocked enough to just run out after the burglary went awry.

"It speaks volumes to the character of Tony Yonko," Gallon said. "He finishes the job" by taking a safe from Ngo's home.

On the other side of the case, one of Yonko's defense attorneys, Elaine Johnson, couldn't speak at first when it was her turn to address the jury. Battling back her emotions, she asked jurors to bear with her.

"It's tough as a lawyer to argue for someone's life," Johnson told them.

After spending about two hours detailing why she believes the right sentence is life without the possibility of parole, Johnson's pleas for mercy again became more pronounced. Yonko lowered his head, rubbed his temple, and sighed heavily as she spoke.

Johnson told jurors that while the prosecution doesn't want them to show her client any mercy, "I'm begging you to have mercy on Tony Yonko."

"Our humanity is defined by the humanity we see in others," Johnson said.

"There is goodness in Tony Yonko," she continued, causing Yonko to wipe his eyes with a tissue.

"He did a horrible thing," Johnson told jurors. But, she added, Yonko should die when God summons him, not when the prison warden does.

"We don't value Mr. Ngo by taking Mr. Yonko's life away," the defense attorney said.

During his argument in favor of death, Gallon displayed a photograph of the bloody crime scene showing Ngo's body in the hallway of his home. He talked about what the victim's then-7 and 9-year-old sons experienced that day.

"This is a photo nobody should have to see," Gallon said. "Those boys didn't see this photo. They saw their dad basically butchered and slaughtered on the floor.

"That's how they will forever remember their dad," the prosecutor said.

Gallon talked to jurors about the defense case they heard that, the prosecutor said, seemed to blame Yonko's father, mother, his Gypsy culture or bad people in his life for whatever criminal acts he did.

"It's everyone else's fault," Gallon said. "It was his choice ... when he went into that house" and killed Ngo.

Gallon then brought out the hammer he says Yonko used 10 to 15 times on Ngo's head and pounded it on the counsel table several times.

The prosecutor also verbally pounded out details of Yonko's criminal history, reminding jurors of testimony they previously heard about past arrests. Those included arrests for the alleged rape of a woman nearly 24 years ago reportedly committed by Yonko and four other men, an arson almost 20 years ago and the alleged assault of his nephew several years ago.

Gallon also recounted Yonko's convictions in 1997 for three residential burglaries he committed against elderly victims a year earlier.

The prosecutor called Yonko "a product of his choices."

He asked jurors not to disregard common sense in their deliberations.

"Look inside yourselves to find the strength to make the proper decision in this case," Gallon told them.

"He deserves the death penalty for crimes he committed against our society," he said. "It is nobody else's fault in this case but Tony Yonko."

But Yonko's attorney sees it another way and asked jurors to consider that.

Johnson reminded jurors that her client was never charged with a crime in the alleged rape, arson or assault on his nephew. She also recounted that no one was threatened or physically injured during the three 1996 burglaries, which were done through scams, not violence.

While the prosecution argued that Yonko made his own choices throughout his life, leading up to the decision to murder Ngo, Johnson contends her client's criminal upbringing was not his choice.

His moral code "was upside down," she said.

Being of Gypsy heritage, Yonko never learned to read or write, but instead learned as a child of 5 or 6 years old how to scam and steal from people, even being used "as a prop" in his parents' own scams, Johnson said.

"Please understand that Mr. Yonko never once in this case blamed anyone," Johnson said, "not his mother, not his Gypsy culture."

Johnson also argued that a forensic psychologist found that Yonko suffers from a mental defect and has mild mental retardation.

"In our country, we don't execute those who have a brain defect," she told jurors, adding that it is "morally wrong" to do so.

Ngo's murder was not charged as one involving premeditation and Johnson argued that Yonko never planned to kill anyone when he went inside Ngo's home.

Johnson said that while it in no way justifies what happened to Ngo, the crime was "a spontaneous eruption of violence."

She asked jurors to compare this murder to other murder cases, saying this one occurred impulsively.

Admitting that Yonko must be and deserves to be punished, Johnson said that punishment should be spending the rest of his life in prison.

"The death penalty is to be used as a last resort," she told jurors, saying this murder is not the worst.

"He is not the worst-of-the-worst defendant," Johnson said.

Jurors are permitted by law to use mercy and sympathy in deciding how much weight to give factors on both sides. They must decide unanimously in favor of death or Yonko will receive life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.