Thien Minh Ly's Killer: "I Am Not a Monster"
Last week, we featured the story of Gunner Jay Lindberg's attempts to get off California's death row by arguing that his brutal, 1996 ambush murder of Thien Minh Ly, a popular Vietnamese American immigrant, was not a hate crime related to white supremacist views. (That story can be found here, for those of you who missed it.)
The state's Supreme Court is considering Lindberg's claims and is due to issue an opinion this summer.
Yesterday, we received a handwritten letter from Lindberg, who expressed sorrow.
"I've never denied that I took Mr. Thien Minh Ly's life--but not for the reasons I was convicted," Lindberg wrote from condemned row in the notorious San Quentin State Prison. "It was not a robbery nor was it a hate crime. I do believe I should pay for my crime as I took his life, so I see my punishment as justice. I know if it were someone in my family I'd want justice and no amount of sorrys would change that. I'm no where near perfect, but I'm not a monster. I've done a terrible wrong not only to Mr. Ly but his family and I can't take it back."
So why did he stab Ly--president of the Vietnamese Student Association when he attended UCLA--22 times, mostly in the heart?
It was, Lindberg (pictured at the time of his arrest) tells me, merely "reckless actions."
-- R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
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DT says:
Gunner: What you did to Thien Minh Ly was monstrous regardless of the reason.
Posted on Thursday, Jul. 24 2008 @ 2:57PM
bobbyc says:
Gunner, it was a HATE-CRIME, as you are a EVIL human who hates minorities! Time to take your IV, and go to HELL... the Devil is calling, and he wants you soul NOW!!!!
Posted on Tuesday, Jul. 29 2008 @ 6:33PM
Rochelle Lopez says:
Gunner, there is no doubt in my mind it was a hate crime. As an ex co-worker of yours who worked with you personally at K-Mart had heard you numerous times make racial comments about customers or co-workers who weren't white when they would walk by your (shoe) department. Accept your punishment stop fighting and wasting tax payers money...why should anyone in today's society spare you or your family your life? Especially after you took not one but two people's lives away. Yes, I said two... not only did you take Mr. Ly's life from him but you took Domenic's life as well. There is no excuse for Domenic's actions but as a young kid who wanted to fit in you took advantage of his vulnerability and innocence.
Posted on Friday, Aug. 1 2008 @ 4:21AM
jasonp says:
Leathol injection is too good for this scum. He needs to die like how mr. Ly died. Give him a slow painful death.
Posted on Friday, Aug. 29 2008 @ 9:47AM
Derek says:
I agree he should be stabbed 50 times and left to die like he left his victim. What a waste of skin and air space Gunner is...
Posted on Tuesday, Sep. 2 2008 @ 1:19AM
Derek says:
This Gunner is a waste of skin and air space. He should be stabbed 50 times and left to die like his victim.
Posted on Tuesday, Sep. 2 2008 @ 1:21AM
megan says:
Gunner, you are my cousin and i know that this is not a hate crime...i mean Robert was japaneese and he was your cousin...just know that you are not a bad person for this. I love you so much and i wish you well
Posted on Wednesday, Oct. 22 2008 @ 9:57AM
Heather Quiroz says:
This is a tragedy, Gunner I never realized just how young you were, but you had a 'God' complex and I believe still do. You took a young impressionable lost young kid ( Domenic) who was looking for a friend who could accept his ackward loss of direction and killed his life as you did with Thien. Domenic was tried before you as an adult and found guilty of a murder YOU commited. He was found guilty of not knowing your character, (sometihing he should have known after 5 weeks of knowing you, most things adults come to realize after YEARS) and yet because his trial was first (due to an inept attorney) he will spend 25 years to life for a crime you boastfully wrote about. You have absolutely no remorse for anything but being caught by your own stupidity. I have nothing but disgust for you and your oversized beffudled ego.
Posted on Tuesday, Dec. 16 2008 @ 8:01PM
Rose says:
"This Gunner is a waste of skin and air space. He should be stabbed 50 times and left to die like his victim."
It's nice to know people don't believe everything they read in the media...
Posted on Thursday, Apr. 30 2009 @ 1:27PM
Austin smith says:
HEY gunner jay lindberg is my cousin im a 14 yr old andi realize what he did is really really wrong no im not racist i think hes done his time id love to c him ive never met him before so plz plz let my cousin get out hes been in there forever i wanna c him thank you for whom it may concern
Posted on Tuesday, Jun. 16 2009 @ 9:51PM
austins says:
hey megan what state do u live in i live in missouri and im his cousin to my mom is casey im sure u to know eachother i mean idk but i dont know gunner personally but i wanna meet him so plz i want him out so i can c him
Posted on Tuesday, Jun. 16 2009 @ 9:56PM
Jay Lindberg says:
Yes, my name is Jay Lindberg and a resident of San Bernardino, Ca. Who knows, I might even be related to Gunner. I have no doubt that a lot of my enemies would like to classify me as a racist. (especially Jews and the pro illegal immigrant crowd)
I'm not condoning what Gunner did but I do believe the message Hitler addressed in Mein Kamph that every race has to accept responsibility for the conduct of those like Gunner. When his time comes, he should be put to death by his own people, his own kind.
One Last comment. When the people in power cannot step down, because the skeletons in their closets will cost them their heads, they will leave in cuffs or in a box. It will take an awful lot of killing to clean up this corrupt mess we call government. We will need people like Gunner for some of the wet work.
The more I learn about the government, the more I appreciate the French Revolution.
Jay Lindberg
Author of "Drug War Economics:The Machine Behind the Madness". Send me an email and I will send you a PDF copy of it.
Posted on Sunday, Jul. 19 2009 @ 9:54PM