Charges Dismissed Against Former Deputy Accused of Helping Inmate Have Sex with His Wife

By PAUL ANDERSON
City News Service

A judge today dismissed two remaining charges against a former Orange County sheriff’s deputy who was accused of helping a convicted murderer’s wife have sex with her husband behind bars and smuggle contraband to the inmate.

A jury in July acquitted David Lloyd Cass of a bribery charge but deadlocked on an additional bribery count and an accessory charge. Orange County Superior Court Judge Patrick Donahue dismissed those counts today, citing insufficient evidence.

Cass said he was “extremely relieved” at the decision. He also praised his attorney, Lew Rosenblum, saying he did a “phenomenal job.”

Prosecutors had been pushing to retry Cass on the remaining charges.

The jury deliberated for about two days in July before deadlocking 7-5 in favor of acquittal on a bribery count involving tickets to a Los Angeles Kings hockey game and a gift card, and 8-4 for acquittal on the charge of being an accessory after the fact.

Prosecutors alleged that Cass gave co-defendant Ha Nguyen, who testified against him, a heads-up when authorities found drugs, a cell phone and other contraband in the cell of her husband, Stephenson Choi Kim, who is serving a life prison term without the possibility of parole for a shooting at a Cypress cafe.

Jurors cleared Cass of a bribery count involving allegations of seeking introductions to women and being given VIP treatment at coffee houses where waitresses are scantily dressed.

Rosenblum said after the trial that his client’s “acceptance of a gift may be a violation of policy, but it’s not a crime.”

Nguyen pleaded guilty to trying to help Kim escape from custody and also admitted drug sales to another inmate and bribing a law enforcement official.

Rosenblum argued that Nguyen lied under oath to win a plea deal from prosecutors.

In his closing argument, Rosenblum cited what he characterized as numerous inconsistencies in Nguyen’s testimony, comparing it to her earlier statements under oath at a preliminary hearing and what she told investigators in a proffer before she pleaded guilty.

In that vein, he highlighted Nguyen’s claim that Cass turned out the lights in a jail waiting room so Kim could have sex with Nguyen, who had portrayed herself as a “legal runner” for the defendant. The lights were on in a video the couple made of their sexual encounter, Rosenblum said.

Cass merely thought Nguyen was being “nice” when she gave him gift cards, such as one for a day spa, according to his attorney.

Deputy District Attorney Aleta Bryant argued during the trial that Cass “was on trial for doing what no other deputy at the Orange County Jail did -- not one. He is on trial here for turning out the lights so Stephenson Kim and his legal-runner/wife could have sexual relations.”

Cass also called Nguyen when a raid on Kim’s cell turned up a phone, drugs and other contraband, and warned her to “stay away,” Bryant told jurors.

The phone found in jail revealed calls between Kim and Nguyen, who had secretly married while he was in custody pending trial, Bryant said. After monitoring Nguyen’s visits to the jail and her phone records, investigators were led to Cass.

Kim and Nguyen had sex together in custody the first time around Thanksgiving 2009, and were allowed to do so again 15 to 30 times over the next two years, Bryant said.

On 74 of Nguyen’s visits to the jail to see Kim, Cass was on duty 52 times, Bryant said.

Kim was convicted in March 2011 of a March 13, 2004, shooting spree at the 5th Wave Cafe in Cypress that killed 21-year-old Venus Huyn and wounded four others. He opened fire in the cafe because he thought one of the victims had ties to a rival gang that had beaten him up, according to trial testimony.

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