San Diego Man Accused of Fatally Drugging and Sexually Assaulting Orange County Resident
San Diego sexual assault and murder of Dan Williams trial has begun.
Philong Huynh, 40, is being charged with drugging, sexually assaulting, and killing 23-year old Dan Williams, a resident of Huntington Beach. According to Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Means, Huynh would scope out heterosexual men in the Gaslamp Quarter of Downtown San Diego where he would drug and sexually abuse them. Huynh would look for young men who were intoxicated and offer to take them to Tijuana where he promised he would take them to strip clubs or hotel rooms with women. The defendant would then drug and sexually assault his victims.
According to the victim’s friends and family Williams was a hard-working man and was absolutely “girl crazy”. Williams resided with his family in Huntington Beach and disappeared on January 26, 2008. The victim was last seen leaving the Hard Rock Café at about 2 a.m. after working a fashion show at the House of Blues in the Gaslamp District. It appeared that Williams was intoxicated because he was stumbling when he left the Hard Rock. His body was discovered in an alley about a block-and –a-half from Huynh’s residence three days later. DNA fluids were found in and on the victim’s body that were a match to the defendants. Williams watch keys and underwear was missing and he had a blood-alcohol level between .17 and .21 as well as had the drug benzodiazepine in his system. The cause of death was undetermined.
A 20 year-old Navy corpsman, another victim of Huynh, came forward in January 2009 and reported how an Asian man went with to explore beaches in San Diego. The victim then woke up next to the defendant without clothes on and felt as if he was drugged. He had no recollection of how he got there or what had happened. The DNA found in the Naval corpsman matched up to the DNA found in and on Williams’ body. This tied Huynh to the murder of Williams. Huynh’s Criminal Defense Attorney, Marian Gaston, claims that although Huynh had done “some very bad things, but he’s not a killer”. Gaston made a point to remind the jury that the Victim’s cause of death was “undetermined” by the medical examiner. If convicted Huynh could get life in prison without parole.
Trial Begins In Fatal Drugging, Sex Assault Case, 10news.com, June 1, 2011
Drug-rape murder trial hits a snag, fox5sandiego.com, May 31, 2011
If you have been arrested and charged with a crime in San Diego County, trust your case to an experienced San Diego criminal lawyer. Victor A. Orsatti at the San Diego Law Center will explain all of your legal options during a free consultation.
