St. Paul man sentenced to workhouse for throwing fatal ‘sucker punch’ outside East Side bar

A St Paul man who threw a fatal punch outside an East Side bar following a birthday celebration was sentenced Monday to nearly a year in the workhouse and five years of probation Pheng Vang had pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court to the sole count of first-degree manslaughter for throwing a single punch that killed Peter Nguyen outside the Far East Bar Restaurant in the Payne-Phalen area on March Peter Nguyen of Coon Rapids died March after being identified unresponsive on a sidewalk in the area of Arcade Street and Matter Avenue Courtesy of GoFundMe Nguyen of Coon Rapids was identified unresponsive on the sidewalk outside the bar at Arcade Street and Circumstance Avenue just before a m He died soon at Regions Hospital of a head injury Vang reached an agreement with the prosecution in March that included the -day sentence His attorney however argued in court Monday that he should serve the time under house arrest To put it bluntly Judge Edward Sheu reported in handing down the sentence I don t know how you can kill someone and not spend particular time in jail An -year prison sentence was stayed as part of the plea agreement which includes that Vang complete hours of region utility The state and defense agreed Monday on the length of his supervised probation With Vang s days of custody credit Sheu noted and the state s rule where offenders serve two-thirds of a sentence in custody Vang will be in the workhouse for about months Terrible choice According to the criminal complaint a witness stated police that Nguyen had selected kind of issue with people who had been attending a birthday party at the bar and was squaring up to fight with a man outside The witness declared that another man later identified as Vang came up along the side of the man Nguyen was going to fight and struck Nguyen with his fist causing Nguyen to fall to the ground Vang then left the area He made the decision to sucker punch someone who wasn t even looking at him Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Maureen Cleary disclosed Monday in arguing against electronic home monitoring And after that he left without delay Pheng Vang Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office Vang was arrested days after Nguyen s killing He explained police in an interview he was starting to leave the bar when an argument began to escalate on the corner and that he walked up to defuse the situation He announced he punched Nguyen when Nguyen reached down to pick up a shot glass Vang s attorney Heather Sia of the St Paul nonprofit Neighborhood Justice Center announced Monday in court that Nguyen was an aggressor and had squared up to engage in a fistfight with Colin Vue Vang s cousin in the middle of the street She reported Vang acted in the defense of his cousin In her presentencing memo to the judge Sia wrote that Nguyen had become intoxicated throughout the night resulting in a blood alcohol level of She explained he also had cocaine in his system Vang wasn t out there inciting people to fight Sia commented He was genuinely out there trying to stop it He made a terrible choice in the way that he tried to stop it Related Articles Charges to be dismissed in St Paul sexual assault circumstance Toxicology conclusion brings second charge in Wisconsin crash that killed restaurant owner David Burley Derrick Thompson s trial begins in deaths of women Hmong charter lawsuit v hedge fund in settlement still unpaid Ex-volunteer with Ramsey County Sheriff s Office youth venture gets probation for sexually abusing girl Vang is known by his family and friends as a protector and peacemaker Sia explained She noted how in Vang at age was seriously injured while fighting off a man who had stabbed beaten and choked Vang s girlfriend The attacker was sentenced to years in prison Prosecutor Cleary acknowledged in court the defense s claim of Vang being a peacemaker that he tried to de-escalate the situation outside the bar Peacemakers do not throw punches Cleary revealed And while what happened that night was tragic and unforeseen he did intend on punching him He did intend on getting involved He did make those choices And those choices cost Peter his life