For the above article or the two posts, we must go deeper than the
definitions in order to see internal hypocrisy.
If you hypocroties think that only other ethnic group caused trouble,
please read the following stories:
Smuggled drugs
LAO-AMERICAN - DRUGS: The DEA with the cooperation of local police
arrested 29 members of an international drug-trafficking organization
and seized more than 65,000 Ecstasy tablets. Officer Mark Bishop of
the Marietta Police Department told VOA that during the course of an
investigation, the DEA identified a Marietta police officer of Lao
descent as possibly involved in the drug ring. Thirty-year-old Isaac
Saleumsy, a two-year Marietta police veteran, is among those behind
bars after police made arrests in Georgia, Tennessee, California and
Ontario, Canada. Investigators charged Saleumsy with conspiracy to
possess Ecstasy with intent to distribute. Two other Lao-Americans of
the Atlanta, Georgia, area were among those arrested on November 27.
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New York Times:
A Laotian refugee convicted of murdering his wife in a jealous rage
must get a new trial, the state's top court has ruled, saying the
judge should have allowed testimony about the ''stress and
disorientation'' of assimilating into American life.
The unanimous decision by the Court of Appeals throws out the second-
degree murder conviction of May Aphaylath, 28 years old, of Rochester,
who is serving a sentence of 15 years to life at Attica State Prison
for the December 1982 killing of his Laotian wife of one month, Loti.
At his trial, where he acknowledged that he fatally stabbed his wife,
Mr. May Aphaylath had sought to use ''extreme emotional disturbance''
as a legal defense.
Mr. May Aphaylath argued that his wife brought shame on him and his
family through her display of affection for another man and her
receiving telephone calls from the man. The shame, he argued, led to
his loss of control. 'Significant Mental Trauma'
In addition, Mr. May Aphaylath contended that the stresses resulting
from his status as a refugee ''caused a significant mental trauma,
affecting his mind for a substantial period of time, simmering in the
unknowing subconscious and then inexplicably coming to the fore,''
even though the immediate cause of the killing was his jealousy, the
Court of Appeals said in its written decision.
The Court of Appeals ruled that Mr. May Aphaylath, who had left Laos
about two years before the killing, had been deprived of a fair trial
by State Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Pine of Rochester.
The appeals court said Justice Pine had acted improperly when she
refused to allow two expert defense witnesses to testify about ''the
stress and disorientation encountered by Laotian refugees in
attempting to assimilate into the American culture.''
The only way for Mr. May Aphaylath to back up his defense would be for
him to present witnesses testifying about the problems faced by
Laotian refugees in the United States, the Court of Appeals said.
Suicide Attempt
The decision, announced Thursday, overturns a lower level appeals
court ruling.
When the police arrived at Mr. May Aphaylath's home after his wife's
killing they found he had tried to commit suicide by taking pills and
attempting to hang himself. The police found him unconscious, hanging
from a piece of clothesline tied to a tree branch.
At his trial, Mr. May Aphaylath testified that his wife began taunting
him and using her former boyfriend as an example of what her husband
should be.
''She said she wanted to marry Nunh,'' he said, referring to the
former boyfriend and speaking through an interpreter. ''After she said
that, I've got a knife in my hand, so I go through her.'' A witness
from the Monroe County Medical Examiner's office said the victim had
been stabbed 16 times.
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A fight broke out between some Laotian men and two Mexican men, ... an
interpreter from the Department of Refugee Services in Des Moines,
IOWA.
http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/171/171.F3d.614.98-1499.html
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People v. Aphaylath
A Laotian refugee, May Aphaylath had been living in the United States
for two years when he married his wife. (7) One month into the
marriage, his wife continued to accept phone calls from her former
boyfriend and to display affection for this other man. (8) Her
behavior brought shame upon May Aphaylath and his family. When she
received yet another phone call from her former boyfriend, May
repeatedly stabbed his new bride to death. (9)
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6146553/Culture-as-justification-not-excuse...
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4 members of Laotian gang charged following drug sting
http://www.vientianetimes.com/Stories/2007/04282007_4_members_of_laotian_gang_charge...
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Communities Held Hostage A Profile of A Laotian Street Gang in Dallas
Ron Cowart and Melinda F. Cowart
http://ccj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/citation/12/4/307
Asian gangs ESPECIALLY LAOTIAN pose new problems for police
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