A panel of appellate justices has overturned part of the conviction of one of three men involved in an escape from Orange County Jail eight years ago, according to records obtained Wednesday.
The Fourth Appellate District justices on Tuesday affirmed part of the conviction for Bac Tien Duong, 51, for kidnapping, but reversed his conviction for false imprisonment.
Duong was sentenced July 8, 2022, to 20 years in prison. He is eligible for parole in 2030, according to prison records.
At his trial in 2021, Duong was acquitted of felony kidnapping for robbery but found guilty of the lesser charge of simple kidnapping. A mistrial was declared on a felony count of vehicle theft when jurors split evenly on that charge, which was later dismissed.
Duong accepted a plea deal from a judge in July 2022 on charges of attempted murder, assault with a firearm, burglary and shooting at an occupied home, all felonies, with sentencing enhancements for great bodily injury and personal use of a gun — wrapping up his cases he was facing while in custody.
Duong admitted he shot Michael Thiem Le on Nov. 18, 2015, at a gambling house at 5607 W. Highland St., Santa Ana, according to court records.
Duong busted out of the Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana on Jan. 22, 2016, with co-defendants Hossein Nayeri, 45, and Jonathan Tieu, 28.
Nayeri is serving a life in prison without parole sentence for the sexual mutilation case he was facing when he burst out of jail. Tieu pleaded guilty in April of last year and was sentenced to eight years in prison, or time already served behind bars.
“Duong challenges his conviction for false imprisonment, arguing it must be reversed because false imprisonment is a lesser included offense of the simple kidnapping charge,” the justices wrote in the opinion.
Attorneys for the Attorney General’s Office “concedes the point, and we agree,” the justices wrote.
The kidnapping charge related to the inmates calling unlicensed cab driver Long Ma and forcing him to go with them.
Duong ultimately broke away from Nayeri and Tieu and drove back to Orange County with Ma to surrender to authorities. Duong and Nayeri got itno a fight while in San Jose and shortly after that Duong left the group with Ma.
Nayeri was convicted of escape and car theft but was acquitted of kidnapping during a carjacking, simple kidnapping, carjacking and false imprisonment.