Judge goes beyond prosecutors' requested sentence for 'execution' murder over parking space

Ricky James LaFargue, in court, learned his fate in the murder of Thuan Nguyen, inset. (Courtroom screenshot and victim’s photo from WSB/YouTube)

A man who “executed” a father with a bullet to the back of the head over a parking space dispute at a mall in Atlanta was sentenced to life in prison without parole, in a punishment that went beyond what prosecutors had requested.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Alice Benton sentenced Ricky James LaFargue, 24, to the punishment, plus five years this week in the murder of Thuan Nguyen, 31.

Citing the defendant’s age during the killing — he was 19 at the time — and that he had no adult criminal record, prosecutors asked for life with the possibility of parole, local ABC affiliate WSB reported.

Benton didn’t see it that way.

“This case is particularly disturbing. It was described by witnesses to the murder as an execution,” Benton said, the station reported. “It was pure evil with a gun pointed to the back of that victim’s head when you pulled the trigger and killed the man, leaving his family and his child with no father.”

Nguyen was shot in a parking lot outside the Lenox Square at 3393 Peachtree Road in northeast Atlanta on the evening of March 8, 2020, Atlanta police said in a news release .

Police said the shooting happened after two groups of people in separate vehicles started arguing over a parking space.

The groups went into the mall, and when they came out later, they got into another confrontation when a gun was pulled, and Nguyen was shot in the head, police said.

“The victim and suspects separated and entered the mall, but later the victim and suspects returned to the parking lot, and the dispute continued,” Officer Steve Avery said in an email to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution .

Four people got into a vehicle and drove off but crashed while still in the parking lot, then ran off.

Gino Vowin, a witness, told WSB the scene was chaotic.

“We saw a gentleman standing with a gun, and then shots fired,” Vowin said. “And then it kind of went hectic. We were just having dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and all you see are cop cars pulling up.”

Witnesses were questioned, and surveillance video was reviewed. LaFargue was quickly identified as a suspect, and police issued a warrant for his arrest days after the killing. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested him in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 2, 2020.

He was extradited to Atlanta and booked into the Fulton County Jail in February 2021.

His defense attorney, Patrick Brackley, told WSB the gun went off by accident.

“The defense was Mr. LaFargue took out the weapon, attempted to strike the victim, and the gun accidentally went off. A defense which the jury evidently rejected but that I believe will hold water on appeal,” he said.

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