Tuxie
12-22-2006, 02:34 AM
By Matt Pordum, Court TV
Tue Dec 19, 4:33 PM ET
KENOSHA, Wis. (Court TV) - Before taking the stand Monday, a 23-year-old woman who shot her own sister to death told a judge she wanted to set the record straight.
"I have to say what really happened. I want to tell the truth and stop all this confusion," Trang Tran said.
Tran told jurors that, on May 27, after a night of drinking and dancing with her boyfriend, Jacob Karras, and her sister Bao, she went to her sister's room in the apartment the three shared to talk about the good time they'd all had.
Tran said she picked up a pair of sunglasses and turned to the mirror to begin "posing like Charlie's Angels," using her fingers to pretend she was holding a gun. Then she remembered there was a real gun in the apartment.
"It came up in my mind that Jacob had a gun and I never told Bao before," Tran testified. "I thought she should know Jacob had a gun in the house, so I stopped posing and I went to get the gun."
After returning to her sister's room with the gun, which she said she thought was unloaded, she began showing her sister what Karras had showed her a few days earlier.
She said she cocked the slide and pulled the trigger, but instead of the click of an unloaded gun, she "saw fire come out of the gun and heard a big bang."
Tears streamed down Tran's face as she told the jury that she begged her little sister to "stay with me" before calling 911.
Tran said she told the dispatcher, "I shot my sister; I didn't know I shot a gun that had bullets in it."
When she later asked Karras why the gun was loaded, she said he told her "he didn't know there were bullets in the gun."
As she waited for an ambulance, Tran talked to her dying sister. "If I loved her enough, she would try and stay with me," she testified.
But the bullet she fired punctured Bao Tran's aorta and the younger sister was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Kenosha Hospital.
Although Tran admitted that her boyfriend showed her on at least three occasions how to load and fire his handgun, she said she "never really paid attention."
She said Karras always told her the gun was "safe" because it wasn't loaded.
On cross-examination, however, Assistant District Attorney Angelina Gabriele questioned how a good student who had come from Vietnam to learn English at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside didn't know her actions could cause her sister's death.
Specifically, Gabriele challenged Tran's contention that cultural differences made her unaware of how dangerous guns were. She asked if "even in Vietnam, guns are used to hurt people."
Tran responded simply, "Yes."
Tran's cross-examination continues Tuesday. She is charged with second-degree reckless homicide and could face up to 25 years in prison.
This is a very tragic story. So what about this... do any of you have any thoughts about this story? Speak up...
Tue Dec 19, 4:33 PM ET
KENOSHA, Wis. (Court TV) - Before taking the stand Monday, a 23-year-old woman who shot her own sister to death told a judge she wanted to set the record straight.
"I have to say what really happened. I want to tell the truth and stop all this confusion," Trang Tran said.
Tran told jurors that, on May 27, after a night of drinking and dancing with her boyfriend, Jacob Karras, and her sister Bao, she went to her sister's room in the apartment the three shared to talk about the good time they'd all had.
Tran said she picked up a pair of sunglasses and turned to the mirror to begin "posing like Charlie's Angels," using her fingers to pretend she was holding a gun. Then she remembered there was a real gun in the apartment.
"It came up in my mind that Jacob had a gun and I never told Bao before," Tran testified. "I thought she should know Jacob had a gun in the house, so I stopped posing and I went to get the gun."
After returning to her sister's room with the gun, which she said she thought was unloaded, she began showing her sister what Karras had showed her a few days earlier.
She said she cocked the slide and pulled the trigger, but instead of the click of an unloaded gun, she "saw fire come out of the gun and heard a big bang."
Tears streamed down Tran's face as she told the jury that she begged her little sister to "stay with me" before calling 911.
Tran said she told the dispatcher, "I shot my sister; I didn't know I shot a gun that had bullets in it."
When she later asked Karras why the gun was loaded, she said he told her "he didn't know there were bullets in the gun."
As she waited for an ambulance, Tran talked to her dying sister. "If I loved her enough, she would try and stay with me," she testified.
But the bullet she fired punctured Bao Tran's aorta and the younger sister was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Kenosha Hospital.
Although Tran admitted that her boyfriend showed her on at least three occasions how to load and fire his handgun, she said she "never really paid attention."
She said Karras always told her the gun was "safe" because it wasn't loaded.
On cross-examination, however, Assistant District Attorney Angelina Gabriele questioned how a good student who had come from Vietnam to learn English at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside didn't know her actions could cause her sister's death.
Specifically, Gabriele challenged Tran's contention that cultural differences made her unaware of how dangerous guns were. She asked if "even in Vietnam, guns are used to hurt people."
Tran responded simply, "Yes."
Tran's cross-examination continues Tuesday. She is charged with second-degree reckless homicide and could face up to 25 years in prison.
This is a very tragic story. So what about this... do any of you have any thoughts about this story? Speak up...