The Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed the first-degree domestic abuse murder conviction of Moua Her, rejecting his arguments that a lower court violated his rights by allowing the jury to hear statements the victim -- his estranged wife -- made to family members and to police.
Sheng Vang, 21, was stabbed 63 times the morning of July 18, 2004, when she went to pick up some papers at the house Her shared with his parents. Her, 26, fled to the Chicago area and was arrested a week later at a suburban motel. He was found guilty of first- and second-degree murder by a Ramsey County jury in June 2006.
The couple had had a turbulent marriage. Twice, Vang had left Her, and she obtained an order for protection against him about three months before she died, according to Star Tribune news reports and court documents.
During their first separation in February and March 2001, the couple held a meeting with Hmong elders and family members to talk about problems in the marriage, including Her's physical abuse of Vang, the documents said.
Those family members testified at Her's trial, as did a police officer who responded to a domestic abuse call from Vang on March 23, 2004.
The Supreme Court said the district court was within its rights to allow those statements. The ruling also said the state provided sufficient evidence for a jury to find that Her "engaged in a past pattern of domestic abuse that supported his conviction for first-degree domestic abuse murder."
Her also had argued that the district court should have declared a mistrial after an incident during the trial. On the second day of testimony, a thief entered the jury's 11th-floor assembly room in the Ramsey County Courthouse and stole items belonging to four jurors.
Jurors were questioned about their ability to remain open-minded during the proceedings and the trial continued.
