Lake Elsinore man sentenced to death

By: JOHN HALL - Staff Writer
Jury foreman calls the experience 'heart-wrenching' | Friday, February 1, 2008 10:16 PM PST ∞

FRENCH VALLEY ---- Tony Ricky Yonko lowered his head and waited to hear if jurors would let him live his life in prison or sentence him to death.

Their decision was death.

Yonko slightly nodded twice as he heard the Southwest Justice Center courtroom assistant read the jury's verdict Friday afternoon.

After a little more than two days of deliberating, nine woman and five men decided the 45-year-old Lake Elsinore man should be sentenced to death for the Oct. 22, 2002, murder of Paul Dinh Ngo.

Ngo, 41, was found inside his Lake Elsinore home by two of his sons, ages 7 and 9 at the time. Ngo had been beaten to death ---- hit with a hammer 10 to 15 times ---- during a burglary committed by Yonko.

Before jurors entered the courtroom just before 3 p.m. Friday, sheriff's deputies escorted Yonko in. He came in smiling, cordially greeting his attorneys and others in the courtroom.

There were no family members of either Ngo or Yonko in the audience.

It wasn't long before the courtroom turned somber.

As the verdict was about to be announced, one of the women on the jury twirled a folded up tissue in her hands. Another woman seated behind her in the jury box choked back tears.

After hearing the death verdict, Yonko sipped water from a cup then dabbed his eyes with a tissue. Next to him, the eyes of his two defense attorneys welled up with tears.

Elaine Johnson, who fought for Yonko's life, was not able to hold back her emotion for long and cried openly, then was comforted by defense attorney Erin Kirkpatrick.

Neither defense attorney wished to comment about the verdict Friday.

The jury foreman, who declined to give his name, spoke outside the courtroom on behalf of his fellow jurors.

"It was probably the most heart-wrenching thing any of us has gone through. There was a lot of lost sleep and tears shed," he said.

"This was absolutely the worst situation we've had to go through. Nobody wanted to go through this," he added.

No other jurors wished to comment.

Prosecutor Stephen Gallon said he was pleased with the jury's verdict.

"This was the appropriate and necessary verdict for this defendant," Gallon said.

During his closing argument earlier this week, the prosecutor said Yonko deserved death because he showed no mercy for Ngo when he left him "slaughtered and butchered on the floor" for his sons to find. "That's how they will forever remember their dad," Gallon told jurors.

In her closing argument, Johnson begged for the jury to find mercy on Yonko, saying that there is good to be found in him and that the crime was not premeditated. She instead called it "a spontaneous eruption of violence" and argued that the death penalty should be a last resort reserved for the "worst of the worst" crimes and defendants.

In December, this same jury found Yonko guilty of first-degree murder during a burglary, making him eligible for the death penalty.

Although they have decided he should be put to death, that sentence is not an absolute.

That's because there is another step in the case that must be resolved by another jury.

Defense attorneys previously filed a motion with Judge Judith Clark requesting a hearing at which they say they will produce evidence that Yonko was mentally retarded before he turned 18.

California law prohibits the execution of anyone found to be mentally retarded before the age of 18.

During the trial, the defense presented evidence from a clinical psychologist that Yonko has an IQ of 65 and is mildly mentally retarded.

Attorneys on both sides will return to court next week at which time experts will be appointed and dates set for the subsequent hearing, which is expected to be concluded by the end of the month.

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

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.