A BOOK ON U.S. APPLICABLE LAW
Deacon San Nguyen
WHEN A BAD JOKE GOES WRONG, FONDLING, AND AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT
In Vietnam, saying a joke related with people’s private parts is rather common. People usually named a male child’s penis as “bird”. However, in USA, that kind of joke is prohibited. Vietnamese immigrants must be aware of that to avoid problems that may happen to their lives.
First story: A Vietnamese senior was put in jail because he said an inappropriate joke to a boy.
One day, when Mr. A and his 14 year old son were trimming some trees around his house, a young American boy living in the neighborhood ran to him and watched his work. Being happy with his work, Mr. A raised his pruning shears, pointed to the boy’s face and jokingly said in Vietnamese: “Hey, beat it! If not, I will cut off your bird!” Mr. A’s son translated the words to the boy who terrifyingly ran back to his house and reported it to his mother. The lady immediately called 911. Few minutes later, police arrived and arrested Mr. A.
Six months later, after listening to a District Attorney who used a big, long pruning shears to describe the actions of Mr. A, the jury decided that Mr. A was guilty when he “attempted to kill with a deadly weapon”. Although a lawyer tried to convince the jury that Mr. A only played a joke with the boy, Mr. A was sentenced to five years in jail. If he showed good behavior when he was in custody, he might be released after he served two and a half years in jail.
Before leaving the temporary detaining center to a prison, Mr. A sadly came to me and told me that he used to say the same thing with other Vietnamese children in Vietnam. Sometimes, he did some thing more terrible with children but no action was taken to prevent him from doing that. Mr. A also lamented with me that he had left Vietnam by a perishable boat for freedom in America without thinking that someday he would be in prison just because of a joke.
Sadly, Mr. A said that he understood why the jury convicted him as a threat to the community: the District Attorney held a baby doll (represent the boy) in one hand and a big and long shears in another hand to depict the “crime scene”. That made all jurors scared. That was why Mr. A received a sentence of 5 years in jail. At the end of his long talk, Mr. A asked me to pray for him so that he could bear the burden he had to carry on his shoulders until the end of his life.
Second story: Being in jail because of touching a baby’s penis.
Mr. B was a Vietnamese senior, too. His grand daughter, Mary, had a class-mate named Linda living on opposite side of his house. Almost everyday, after school, Linda carried her little brother on her back to Mr. B’s house in order to play with Mary until 6:30 pm, when Linda’s mother came home from work. The baby was so cute with blue eyes and light brown hair and those arm rolls. With the love for children, Mr. B liked to hold him very much. One day, a friend of Mr. B visited him. While holding the baby on his thigh, suddenly, Mr. B opened the diaper of the baby, took out the baby’s penis, and said a joke to his friend: “Look! The bird looks nice and red like a hot pepper!” Right at that time, Linda turned her head towards them and saw Mr. B holding the genital part of the baby. That night, Linda reported to her mother who immediately called 911. Within minutes, police came and put an iron shackle on his wrists. Police told Mr. B that he committed a crime as sex stimulation on the baby.
At court, although a lawyer tried to convince the jurors that Mr. B did not have intention to commit that crime, he was just an ignorant refugee who lacked of knowledge about that crime, the Court still gave him 8 years in jail. Before going to prison, Mr. B sadly told me that he was sentenced wrongly. Like Mr. A, he did it many times in his country, Vietnam. Over there, a grand parent could touched and kiss a baby’s penis without any problem.
I totally agreed with him but advised him that he did not live in Vietnam anymore. Now he lived in America. He should follow all Laws, regulations and rules of this country. If he wanted to live happily here, he should go with the main stream. For example, in Vietnam, peeing in public was not a serious thing. However, in America, even though peeing in one’s own yard was prohibited. If the deed of peeing in one’s own yard was seen by a neighbor, the person who committed this “terrible act” would be taken to court for a penalty. More seriously, if the neighbor was a female or a girl under age, the crime would be more severe because the court might condemn that man with the crime as “sex stimulation to female and girl under age.”
Third story: Aggravated Sexual Assault.
Lisa loved her husband, Mr. C., very much. The couple lived together for over 10 years already and had a 7 year old daughter. After their daughter turned 8, Mr. C. often went home late for few hours. Mr. C. told his wife that he had a lot of job that needed him to work overtime. Lisa trusted her husband; she did not doubt her husband even a minute.
However, one evening, when driving to school to pick up her daughter, Lisa saw her husband driving his secretary home. In his car, the secretary hugged Mr. C. romantically. Trying to calm herself down, Lisa followed Mr. C. until he reached to the girl’s home, stepped out of the car, and opened the car door for his girl friend. The couple kissed each other and then walked side by side into the house. Seeing that, Lisa could not do anything because she had to hurry to school for her daughter. After going back home, Lisa pretended not to see anything happened between her husband and his clerk while Mr. C. also pretended to love his wife very much. He hugged her and then told her several funny stories happened at work.
Mr. C. did not know that a huge fire was burning Lisa’s heart and mind.
At that night, about 2 o’clock in the morning, Lisa poked her 5 sharp finger nails into Mr. C’s pants and forcibly pinched his sexual organ with all her strength.
Being so painful, Mr. C rolled over his bed and cried out loudly. Seeing her husband bleeding and painful, Lisa was scared. Being unable to hold her jealousy any more, Lisa called 911 immediately. Few minutes later, an ambulance arrived and took Mr. C. into hospital. Lisa was arrested immediately. At court, she was condemned as assaulting with deadly weapon to cause critical injury. Her lawyer advocated that Lisa did such terrible thing just because she loved her husband too much that she made mistake. Based on her husband’s plea in confession and avoidance, the court only gave her 5 months in jails and 1 year in probation.
Two weeks before Lisa being released, I visited her at jail. She emotionally told me that she regretted for the incident that happened. She wished that before doing that bad thing, she could seek for advice from some counselor! Lisa was very sad because her daughter also complained against her. The daughter considered her mother as an insane person who hurt her husband badly.
For me, I totally understood whatever Lisa said. To make her happy a little bit, I told her another story that was worse than her case. Five years before this incident happened, I visited a female with a Life sentence in prison due to her killing her husband. Mrs. D. told me that she got angry because her husband had a girl friend who was prettier than her. Because she did not know what to do with this case, she asked a closest friend who said that “do not ever get jealous with such lousy guy. Just buy a silenced- gun, wait until that guy falls in sleep then shoot him.” While the jealousy overwhelmed her mind, Mrs. D agreed with what her friend suggested. She bought a new silenced gun and killed her husband by that gun. The result was that she received a life sentence in jail.
Hearing this story, Lisa happily said: “Thanks, Deacon! God still loves me very much. I am lucky to come back to my normal life. Had I sought an advice from a bad guy, I would be receiving a life sentence like the other lady did.”
Dear friends,
Those two above stories made me remember an advice from a mother when we migrated from North Vietnam to South Vietnam in 1954. She said to her son: “My dear! In future, if you want to marry, try to marry a girl from the North or the Central, not a girl in the South. When Southern girl got jealous, they may burn their husbands to ash. They do not cut off penis like others do. Recently, a girl name “Cô Quờn” just burned her husband to ash. So, try to make us proud of you, do not make our old lives miserable.”
