Utah man accused in triple homicide appears in court
SALT LAKE CITY -- A man who authorities said tried to blame his mother after he killed two adult boarders and a baby because they wouldn't move out of his house appeared in court Tuesday via a video hookup on murder charges that could carry the death penalty.
Alexander Hung Tran, 32, of Salt Lake City gave clear, one-word answers to questions from a judge, then thanked him when the short hearing was over.
Tran, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit, appeared in court through the video feed from the Salt Lake County jail, where he is being held on $3 million bail.
No defense attorney appeared or was immediately listed in court records.
Prosecutors say Tran acknowledged the shootings when officers found him with a gun on Sept. 18 but tried to say his mother was at fault.
She owned the house and had asked the people to leave but knew nothing of the deaths, prosecutors said.
The victims were 2-month-old Lyrik Poike, her 50-year-old grandmother Heike Poike, and an acquaintance, 28-year-old Dakota Smith.
The bodies were found after Heike Poike didn't pick up her 8-year-old grandson from school.
Tran is facing three counts of aggravated murder. Prosecutors haven't said if they plan to seek the death penalty.
Tran had been living in the basement of the house that his mother bought for him, and the three victims were living on the main floor, police said. When his mother discovered he was letting people stay there, she asked them to move out.
Tran initially told her that they wouldn't leave then called a few days later - the day of the deaths - and reported they were gone, prosecutors wrote in charging documents.
When he was arrested, Tran told police, "If I think this is my mom's fault and that she should be here instead, is there anything I can do?," according to charging documents.
It's unclear if the victims had been rent-paying tenants or had some other arrangement with Tran.
The baby's mother is in jail and the identity of the baby's father is unclear, police have said.