Concealed Carry Permitholder Sentenced in Double Homicide

It was emotional as the sounds of crying and sniffling emanated from a crowded courtroom, where every spot in the gallery was full as Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Wagner sent defendant Do Thao to prison for more than four decades in the double homicide of Bee Lee Chang and Jack Yang.

The Friday sentencing of Thao, a concealed carry permit holder at the time he shot the two men, played out against the backdrop of recent controversies over gun laws, after an increase in homicides this year to date.

“You have left a legacy of sadness,” Wagner said to Thao of his actions last summer, when he killed two men who were riding in a car with him for unclear reasons but while fueled up on alcohol. The defense attorney blamed sleep paralysis and alcohol for Thao’s claimed lack of memory about the homicides.

Wagner decided that Do Thao, 24, will serve 42 years in Dodge County Correctional Institution and 18 years of probation.

Do Thao finally spoke to the courtroom and apologized to the families of Bee Lee Chang and Jack Yang.

“I didn’t purchase the gun to kill people, and ruin people’s lives,” Do Thao said. According to Thao, he carried the gun all the time for protection because of the increase in crime on Milwaukee’s northwest side.

He pleaded that he never had any intentions of murdering Yang and Chang. Thao said that he took full responsibility. While incarcerated, he has taken part in Bible study. He wants to be a motivational speaker and speak on the abuse of alcohol to other young adults.

The families of Chang, Yang, Thao and even Wagner mentioned that if they could turn back time, they would.

Shoua Thao, Do Thao’s father and a leader in the Hmong community, addressed the whole room. He pleaded that the Hmong community needs to come together.

“There can’t be a break between the three families,” Shoua Thao said.

The families of the victims told of their suffering. Yang, Jack Yang’s brother, described the moment that the doctor took his brother off of life support.

“Nobody wanted to let go, but nobody wanted to see him in pain,” Yang said.

He asked Thao to take full responsibility for his actions and to take a good long look at his life and do the right thing.

He also spoke in Hmong so the parents of Jack Yang and Bee Lee Chang could understand fully.

According to the criminal complaint, last July 25, while driving back from a party at KT Chang’s house, Do Thao shot driver Jack Yang in the head. He then shot passenger Bee Lee Chang once in the neck and once in the shoulder. The car then crashed into a building in the 5200 block of West Lisbon Ave. and N. 51^st St.

Detective Shannon Lewandowski was dispatched to the scene and found two men bloody in the front seat of 1994 Lexus. The detective found a black Ruger .380 semi automatic pistol that Do Thao had his concealed carry permit for.

Witnesses said they found Thao in some bushes 30 feet away in the fetal position, claiming he couldn’t feel his legs and had neck pain.

“I had to do it, they ain’t right,” Thao said.

When questioned by Milwaukee Police Department, Thao had no recollection of what happened, court records show.

“If you said I did it, then I must have did it,” Thao said to police investigators, the records said.

Thao admitted that he had an alcohol abuse problem. He said that he had been drinking beer around 8 or 9 a.m. During the sentencing hearing, Thao’s Attorney Deborah Vishny showed the court a video posted on Facebook of the party later that night. It had Thao and other partygoers drinking six to seven ounces of straight Captain Morgan Rum.

According to Vishny, Thao had sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is where the person is consciously awake but is unable to move their body.

The defense said that the combination of Thao’s sleep paralysis and the estimated BAC noted by psychologist Dr. Diane Mosnick, of .25-.3, is what caused Thao’s memory loss on the accounts of that night.

The terms “justice” and “sadness” came up frequently during the victims’ families’ accounts of how their losses had affected their lives during the sentencing hearing.

Dia Chang, mother of Beelee Chang, expressed how she felt that she’d gone crazy because of her son’s death. Beelee Chang was her eldest son. She kept asking why Thao took her son away from her.

“Children should not have to be buried by parents,” Dia Chang said. “It should be the other way around.”

KT Chang, who hosted the party prior to the murder of Chang and Yang spoke to the court.

“They were my brothers,” Chang said. “I want him to get the maximum penalty for this.”

KT Chang said that after the death of these “brothers,” he’s felt emotionally scarred and guilty since that night. He said that he’s also had trouble trusting people ever since the murder.

“I’ve seen the brutality people can do to other people,” Wagner said.

Wagner emphasized that Thao showed no signs of the usual homicide suspect anger issues and blaming of others rather than oneself. He may have been going back to school to be a dental hygienist and help out his family. He did have a clean record before the murder of Jack Yang and Bee Lee Chang, but it wouldn’t bring them back.

“Guns and alcohol create tragedy,” Wagner said.