A Maryland man was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in the death of his 12-year-old stepdaughter.
David Hang, 43, was found guilty of first-degree murder in August in the stabbing death of Jessica Nguyen, a sixth-grade student at Gaithersburg Middle School.
Hang stabbed and cut Jessica more than 40 times with a small sword in her family’s Gaithersburg home in May 2011, prosecutors said.
In court Monday, Hang maintained his innocence, News4's Chris Gordon reported.
"I will tell you that I was offended personally by the comments of Mr. Hang, who did not testify in his own trial but took today's opportunity, without being subject to cross examination, to put forth what was his defense," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said.
Judge Sharon Burrell passed down the most severe sentence possible due to the brutal nature of the crime, Gordon reported. In Maryland, the death penalty is only a possibility if there were multiple murder victims.
"This child had not a chance, and this man was armed with a weapon, and the savagery in the killing made this sentence absolutely just and fair," McCarthy said.
Jessica's sister Belinda, who found Jessica's body in the basement of the home, said she will be haunted the rest of her life.
DNA lifted from the small sword's sheath found at the crime scene helped lead police to Hang in October 2011. A bloody boot print found at the scene also matched Hang, police said, and Hang, who was a Ride On bus driver in Montgomery County, had taken off from work the afternoon of the murder.
Prosecutors argued that Jessica’s mother had an "immigration sham-like marriage" with Hang, and Hang was angry she would not let him out of it. Despite not getting the divorce he wanted, he married a new wife and wanted to get her medical insurance, prosecutors said.
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