The father of Aaron Vu addressed his son’s alleged killer in a South Florida courtroom this week to offer forgiveness – twelve years after the deadly shooting at his Miami nail salon, according to news reports.
While testifying at Anthawn Ragan’s sentencing trial on Monday, February 9, Aaron’s father, Hai Vu, who was joined by Aaron’s mother, expressed that the pain of losing 10-year-old Aaron in November 2013 was indescribable, CBS News reported.
“I can’t explain to you how much the pain is,” Hai Vu said in court.
He tearfully recalled how two alleged armed gunmen robbed his family-owned nail salon, Hong Kong Nails, on November 22, 2013, when he said one of the men ultimately fired two shots, striking him and Aaron, who died, according to the Miami Herald.
“We used to be a happy family,” Hai said, the newspaper reported. “We don’t celebrate any more holidays.”
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Hai’s testimony came during the first day of Ragan’s sentencing trial, according to the Miami Herald. Ragan, who pleaded guilty in Aaron’s death, could be sentenced to death.
It is up to Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez to decide whether to hand Ragan the death penalty, CBS News reported.
During the hearing, which has been continued to Tuesday, February 10, Hai told the judge “I forgive him,” referring to Ragan, according to CBS News.
“I know that’s what my son would have wanted me to do,” Hai added. Ragan is represented by attorney Tony Moss, who did not immediately return Us Weekly’s request for comment on February 10.
Ragan is currently serving a life sentence in connection with the killing of an alleged drug dealer in November 2013, the same month he was accused of fatally shooting Aaron, according to the Miami Herald.
At Monday’s hearing, Moss argued against a death sentence for Ragan, WPLG reported. He detailed how Ragan experienced a difficult childhood involving poverty and mental health-related issues.
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In a sentencing memorandum in support of Ragan and obtained by Us, Moss and his co-counsel, attorney Adam K. Goodman, wrote: “If the death penalty, at least in theory, is to be reserved for the worst-of-the-worst offenses, committed by the worst-of-the-worst offenders, the record conclusively establishes that [Ragan’s] crimes, as tragic and senseless as they were, do not rise to the level at which only the death penalty is an adequate response.”
“Nor does his personal history show that he possesses such an irredeemable core of sociopathic evil that no other response will serve the purposes of punishment and deterrence,” the sentencing memo continues.
Moss and Goodman ultimately argued in support of a life prison sentence for Ragan, instead of death, the filing shows.
Assistant State Attorney Scott Warfman, however, argued in court that a death sentence is appropriate, WPLG reported.
“The defendant was the menace of Northwest Seventh Avenue, robbing people, killing people … a reign of terror until he got caught,” Warfman said of Ragan, according to the outlet.
Ragan was 19 years old when he was accused of killing Aaron, WPLG reported.
