William Oudavanh walked to the podium carrying a photo of his dead father. He tried to hold back the tears long enough to muster a few words before the judge.
"There's no amount of justice that will ever bring him back," Oudavanh told the courtroom. And then the tears came back.
In an emotional hearing Tuesday, Senior U.S. District Judge David S. Doty sentenced brothers Lennie and Randy Brooks to federal prison for a string of robberies last year targeting business owners. During one of the home invasions, Oudavanh's father, Oukham Oudavanh, suffered a fatal heart attack.
Doty sentenced Lennie, whom prosecutors called the "ringleader" of the crime spree, to 30 years in prison. Randy, the "muscle," was given 20 years. Doty ordered them to jointly pay $288,000 in restitution to their victims, along with another member of the crew, Esperanza Cardenas, who pleaded guilty in October.
"After more than a year of investigation and court proceedings, the Brooks brothers' victims have justice," William Terry Henderson, special agent in charge of the St. Paul's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said in a statement. "No one deserves what these people went through, and our hope is that peace can be found in the finality of this sentencing."
The Brooks brothers, of Wabasha, Minn., were indicted a year ago on charges of interference of commerce by robbery, a federal crime known as a "Hobbs Act" violation. They pleaded guilty to the three counts earlier this year, though prosecutors say the spate of robberies hit two dozen victims across Minnesota.
In court Tuesday, Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey Paulsen said the brothers targeted older people, some in rural areas with lagging police response, who ran businesses that would have large sums of money or expensive jewelry on hand. One of those was 63-year-old Oukham Oudavanh, who operated Shuang Hur Oriental Markets in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Wielding a gun, the brothers broke into the Oudavanhs' Eden Prairie home and stole $50,000 in cash belonging to the markets. In the process, Oukham went into cardiac arrest.
"The fear we felt was incomprehensible, and every day since has been a struggle," Paulsen told the court, reading a letter written by Oukham Oudavanh's wife, who said she has never returned to the house since then.