One of the three inmates who made a brazen escape in 2016 from Orange County jail accepted a plea deal on Tuesday, April 11 — ending the long-running legal saga surrounding the jailbreak that drew national headlines.
Jonathan Tieu, now 27, admitted to taking part in the escape from the Men’s Central Jail in Santa Ana and acknowledged helping kidnap a taxi driver while Tieu and his fellow escapees were on the run.
Tieu was immediately sentenced to eight years in prison — but with credit for the time served while awaiting trial he was ordered to be released.
Asked by Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary S. Paer what he plans to do upon his release, Tieu — who was first arrested at age 15 — said he was going to head “home and see my mom. …
“I’m going to give her a big old kiss and a hug,” Tieu said. “It has been a long time.”
“This should be a wakeup call,” the judge told Tieu, noting that had the case gone to trial he was facing a potential life sentence. “I hope I won’t see you again.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t,” Tieu added.
Tieu was arrested in 2011 and charged with murder and attempted murder for the killing of 19-year-old Scottie Bui following a confrontation between rival Asian street gangs in Garden Grove. Tieu was not accused of having fired the gunshots that killed Bui and injured another man, and was not suspected of being a member of any of the street gangs. But he was accused of joining with friends who were gang members in taking part in the deadly confrontation.
His first trial in the murder case, in early 2015, ended with a hung jury.
In January 2016, while awaiting retrial, Tieu joined in the jail escape with Hossein Nayeri and Bac Duong. Prosecutors have said it was masterminded by Nayeri, who over the past decade became one of Orange County’s most notorious inmates and recorded the escape on a smuggled cellphone.
Over several months, the inmates cut through half-inch steel bars to access…
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