Five people were found dead at a home in Ingleside, San Francisco, United States on the morning of Friday, March 23, 2012.
In Chinese-language media both in the United States and overseas, which devoted the most coverage to the killings, the case was usually referred to as the Lei family quintuple slayings.
After years of delays in preliminary hearings as prosecutors requested additional time to review evidence, Luc's trial finally began on October 10, 2017.
Following a seven-week trial and a week of deliberation, on December 11 the jury found Luc guilty of all the murder and burglary charges, as well as five counts of attempted robbery.
[6] A neighbor said that she heard a "loud male person angry or yelling at around midnight" the night prior to the morning the bodies were found, but did not hear any gunshots.
[10][11] News reports speculated that the killings were motivated by an attempt to collect on gambling debts; investigators declined to comment on that theory.
[24] District Attorney George Gascón stated in late March 2012 that he probably would not seek the death penalty, though Luc might be eligible due to special circumstance enhancements.
[23] A poll conducted by CBS affiliate KPIX-TV around the same time found that 56% of San Francisco residents thought the government should pursue the death penalty in its case against Luc, while 33% were opposed and 11% unsure.
[25] When interviewed again on the matter in late April 2012, Gascón stated that the special circumstances committee (composed of senior homicide prosecutors) was still awaiting sufficient evidence before making the final decision.
[26] During Luc's court appearance on June 19, 2015, Assistant District Attorney Michael Swart stated that the prosecution would not be seeking the death penalty.
Goldrosen explained the delay by stating that the investigation was still ongoing and that both the prosecution and the defense needed time to review witness statements and evidence.
[44][45] Luc's trial was initially scheduled to begin in March 2016, but prosecutors requested delays in order to have more time to review evidence.
Mark Goldrosen's defense of Luc focused on the prosecution's failure to advance a plausible motive for the killings, and on leads which the police failed to follow due to their focus on Luc, such as a report by an informant that a Chinatown gang leader had ordered the killings and DNA samples which had not been tested.
[64][66] In 1998, Binh Thai Luc was convicted of second-degree robbery and assault with a firearm for holding up a Chinese restaurant and a clothing wholesaler in San Jose in 1996.
[32] In the end, Luc could not be deported because the government of Vietnam refused to issue a travel document to allow him to be re-admitted to that country.
[69] Due to the 2001 Supreme Court ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis, Luc could not be detained indefinitely either, and was released from ICE custody after 180 days.
San Francisco mayor Ed Lee requested that the federal government consider ways of preventing undeportable felons from moving back to the areas where they had committed their original crimes, while various Congressional Republicans called for the passage of legislation addressing the situation.
[72][73] Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wrote a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on June 1, 2012, expressing concerns about Luc and other foreign nationals who had been ordered deported but continued to live freely in the United States due to Zadvydas v. Davis, and inquiring whether she would support legislation to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to authorize detention of deportees beyond six months.
1203 to the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 to authorize detention of deportees beyond six months when their countries of citizenship refused to readmit them, and gave a floor speech on June 20, 2013, in which he mentioned Luc's case several times as justification.
[77][78] Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) proposed broader measures: he gave floor speeches on March 27 and July 10, 2012, calling for the passage of the Deport Foreign Convicted Criminals Act (H.R.
[82] The deportation issue rose to prominence again following Luc's conviction, which came less than two weeks after the controversial acquittal of an undocumented immigrant in another San Francisco homicide case, the shooting of Kathryn Steinle.