sentencing hearing for du doan murder

Some folks inquired if I knew anything about the status of John Haley, who was found guilty of manslaughter in the drowning of Du Doan, a 65-year-old Vietnamese immigrant who was pushed into the lake while fishing at Montrose Harbor in Chicago. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for today. Here's the email I received from the Asian American Institute:

Sentencing Hearing for Killer of Vietnamese Fisherman Du Doan

AAI has just learned that the sentencing hearing for John Haley will be held this Friday, December 11, 2009 at 1:00pm. The hearing will be open to the public and will take place in Room 204 of the Cook County Criminal Court, located at 2650 South California Avenue, Chicago, IL 60608 (click for map). AAI has also learned that Haley recently filed a motion for new trial and that the hearing on that motion will take place at the same time as the sentencing hearing.

On Friday, October 23, 2009, Haley was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the drowning of Mr. Du Doan, a 65-year-old Vietnamese immigrant who was pushed into the lake while fishing at Montrose Harbor. Haley was also found not guilty of first degree murder. AAI believes that an involuntary manslaughter charge is too small a price to pay for taking a person's life in this manner. We will be attending the December 11th hearing to demonstrate the community's serious concern about this case.

If you would like to attend the hearing, please contact Ami Gandhi at the Asian American Institute (773-271-0899 x 103 or ami@aaichicago.org) as soon as possible so that AAI can coordinate the community's attendance.

Please note that you are not permitted to bring recording devices such as cameras or video-cameras into the court building. However, you will be allowed to bring your camera-enabled and video-enabled cell phones with you.

I apologize for posting this on such short notice, for anyone in Chicago who was interested in attending the hearing. I still think the manslaughter conviction was absolutely unacceptable -- too small a price to pay for such a blatant and deadly disregard for another life.