A 34-year-old Long Beach man on trial for murder sold a handgun to a minor who, hours later, used it to kill a Gardena man whom they intended to rob, a prosecutor told a Long Beach Superior Court jury during closing arguments of the man’s trial Monday, July 21.

Stephen Duong is not accused of pulling the trigger, nor was he accused of coming up with the plan to rob the victim, 22-year-old Austin Thai. Instead, he drove a then-16-year-old boy and a then-15-year-old girl to 17th Street and Gaviota Avenue, where the boy shot Thai 13 times as he sat in the driver’s seat of his car in the early morning hours of May 16, 2020, both attorneys said.

On the table for the panel of nine men and three women to decide was whether Duong’s knowledge and participation in the planning and execution of a robbery that went bad was enough to convict him of murder, or if a lover’s quarrel led the 16-year-old boy to go astray and kill the victim, who was seeing the boy’s girlfriend, out of jealousy without the knowledge of the others.

Prosecutor Tracy Sims said Duong’s actions and his statements to police and undercover agents in jail show he was a “major participant,” while Duong’s attorney, Damon Hobdy, argued that Duong had no idea that the 16-year-old boy had any intention to kill Thai.

Sims said Duong had known the 16-year-old boy, whom Hobdy identified as Elvis Baide, since Baide was a child as both had lived in the same neighborhood. The 15-year-old girl, who testified during trial, was at the time Baide’s girlfriend, but Baide had suspected she cheated on him with Thai, the attorneys said.

The series of events began around 6 or 7 p.m. May 15, 2020, when Baide walked up to Duong, who was outside his apartment smoking, and asked Duong if he had a gun for sale, the attorneys said.

Duong sold Baide a self-made 9-millimeter “ghost” gun for $1,000 before Baide told Duong about his suspicions, Hobdy said. They later picked up the girlfriend and, while in the car, the two teens hatched a plan for the girlfriend to text Thai and have him come to Long Beach so they could rob him.

The girlfriend also allegedly told both Duong and Baide that Thai often wears jewelry, including a necklace, Sims said.

Thai showed up to 17th Street and Gaviota Avenue and before the two teenagers got out of the car sometime before 12:30 a.m., Duong admitted to detectives that he told Baide to grab Thai’s necklace for him, according to evidence presented during closing arguments.

Duong drove south and parked his car outside a liquor store near 15th Street and Gaviota Avenue, turning his lights off in order to avoid his license plate being seen by police, Sims said. He also allegedly gave Baide a security vest to make them look less suspicious to police.

Minutes later, both the girlfriend and Baide returned to Duong’s car and they fled, Sims said.

Detectives later found Thai dead with shell casings both inside and outside of the car, Sims said.

A necklace was later pawned for $4,800, of which Duong was given $2,400, Sims said, but he acknowledged Long Beach detectives never found direct evidence of a pawn shop transaction.

Hobdy noted that other items of value, including Thai’s phone, wallet and a ring, were not stolen, and that the 13 shots fired by Baide showed he intended not to rob the victim, but to kill him.

He said statements made by Duong to undercover agents during a recorded conversation in a jail cell were made up, noting that one of the agents at one point told Duong he had “more stories than a highway.”

“Stephen Duong is holding the bag for a murder he didn’t do,” Hobdy said. “There’s no evidence he knew (Baide) was going to kill him. There’s no evidence he drove them there knowing what was going to happen.”

Duong was on his way home in the 1300 block of Rose Avenue after the teens got out, Hobdy said, but went back to the liquor store after Baide called him and told him to meet there.

Sims said there was no evidence Baide ever called Duong, but there was evidence his girlfriend called and allegedly told Duong that she was “out of the (victim’s) car,” an indication that Baide was in the process of robbing Thai.

Sims argued that jurors could go two routes to find Duong guilty of murder, either through a theory of aiding and abetting or through a felony murder finding where he was a major participant in a crime that ended up in the death of the victim.

The defense attorney said Duong wasn’t innocent, “his hands are in this thing,” but also that saying “something very, very stupid” such as “give me a necklace” did not make him guilty of murder.

Sims argued Duong was more involved than that.

“You made the decision to sell the minor a gun, drive them to a location where they discuss a robbery,” and then park down the street and wait with the lights off, Sims said. “That is a major participant.”

The girlfriend was sentenced to seven months in suitable housing for her connection to the crime, Hobdy said. Baide had since died, but Hobdy did not offer additional details during his closing argument.

Jurors were ordered to return to the courthouse where they will begin deliberating Tuesday morning.