By Jess Taylor
WOODLAND – Yolo County Superior Court Judge Paul Richardson’s strong concerns over the violent tendencies of defendant Loi Bui—who had asked for a two week release to get his affairs in order before a six-year stint in prison—led to the judge denying the request last Thursday.
On July 8, Bui motioned to be released to take care of personal affairs before being sent away to prison for six years for beating up his ex-girlfriend in San Francisco. He also requested that his sentencing be put off for two weeks.
His private defense attorney, Ava Landers, informed those in court that Bui does not have help on the outside to get his affairs in order.
He has property that needs to be gathered and put into storage, bills that are automatically deducted from his checking account that need to be stopped, along with the automatic withdrawals for other things that are going to create a credit problem if he cannot get these things stopped, Landers said.
Landers requested he be given a week to get his personal matters settled. If granted he would stay with his sister, abide by stay-away restraining orders, wear a GPS unit, and check in with 
probation every day.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Vroman was deeply concerned about the possible release of Bui.
Noting the past actions of Bui, he reiterated tha “the defendant beat his ex-girlfriend to the point she lost teeth due to what he did. That’s a concern because he is physically violent towards women he’s dating.”
Moreover, DDA Vroman said Bui had been writing letters to the victim through his pleadings, but they haven’t checked to see if he still is doing so after the pleading was completed. There is a no harassment order but there hasn’t been a violation filed.
Asserting it is not safe to release Bui, for the victim’s sake, Vroman stated that it would not take Bui seven days to get his affairs in place but a mere two days at most. He opposed the release, but if the court was inclined to do so, give him no more than two days to settle his matters.
Judge Richardson admitted that he was very concerned about releasing the defendant because of his violence and that’s why he is sending him to prison for six years. Consequently, the judge said he was not inclined to release him; additionally, the judge said Bui has known for months he would need to get his things in order.
The defendant spoke out above the judge expressing, “I forgot all my passwords. That’s the problem. That’s the real problem…I forgot all my passwords. It takes them a few days to reset my passwords.”
Defense attorney Landers requested they move onto sentencing since the motion was rejected. Asking Bui if this was okay with him, the defendant directed his response to the judge saying, “If he’s not going to give me a chance to, you know, go out there and reset my passwords and you know stop all of my automatic payments then you know I’m going to end up with a lot of debts. A lot of debts.”
No responsive comment was made by any of the lawyers or judge.
Judge Richardson explained that infliction of corporal injury is a felony. The base term was three years, but that sentence is doubled due to a prior strike. In addition, Bui’s probation will be terminated as unsuccessful—from a DUI back in 2019 where he was driving at more than 100 miles per hour. The defendant is also taking a substance abuse counseling program while in prison.
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