William Lamar Hinson III was sentenced today to seven years in state prison for the July 2015 killing of Georgia tourist Khanh Lam, who died from head injuries after a fight in a Garberville alley.

Judge Larry Killoran, while calling Lam’s death “just a tragedy,” disagreed with the Probation Department’s recommendation of 12 years. Killoran said Lam’s behavior, including “terrorizing a young child and repeatedly punching the child’s mother in the face,” contributed to his death. “All the while (Lam) was on a toxic level of methamphetamine.”

Lam, 37, stopped in Garberville because his truck broke down as he traveled to meet family members, including his 9-year-old son, at Legoland amusement park. While in Garberville he lost his dog and reportedly was looking for it when he accosted a family in a van. Several witnesses said Lam was trying to take a little girl out of the van and then struck her screaming mother in the face. 

Lam also fought with the van’s driver, who he hit with a stepladder while the man was on the ground. Lam was pursued by a group of men, including Hinson, and ultimately Hinson killed him by striking him on the head with a piece of wood.

Killoran, after making his tentative ruling of six years for voluntary manslaughter and one year for using a deadly weapon, heard emotional statements from Lam’s sister, Tran Lam, and from an attorney representing Lam’s fiancee. She also was in court today, often crying. The two traveled across the country to attend the sentencing.

Tran Lam said her family has endured “excruciating pain” during the nearly four years since her brother was violently “robbed of his life.”

She described Khanh as an exceptionally kind, loving person who lit up a room with his smile.

“He would never, ever, hurt a child,” the sister said, sobbing. “He was looking for his dog.”

She said Lam’s son, her nephew, holds his father’s photograph to his chest and cries.
“My nephew will grow up without his daddy,” she said.

North Carolina attorney Daniel Zamora, who knew Lam for years, said the death “was a senseless murder that has absolutely devastated this family. The parents have aged 10-plus years in the last four years.”

He noted Lam was pursued and then killed after he fell to the ground.

“That’s six years?” he asked the judge. “That sets a dangerous precedent for this community … six years doesn’t begin to address the heartache and the loss of this family.”

He said Hinson and his friends “killed a man who did absolutely nothing to Mr. Hinson.” Zamora pleaded with Killoran to “give this man the 12 years that he deserves.”

Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees, who prosecuted Hinson at trial, said the jury already gave Hinson a break by acquitting him of murder. Jurors found Hinson had been provoked, Rees said, and “I don’t think we should double-dip into that benefit.”

The Probation Department did not find the crime involved great violence. Rees disagreed.

“Someone died here,” he said. “(Hinson) used a weapon. The victim was particularly vulnerable. He was chased and attacked by other people. He was surrounded when the defendant came and hit him.”

Rees said Lam’s behavior “wasn’t worth a death sentence.” 

“Mr. Lam was just looking for his dog. He was still looking for his dog when he went to the van.”

Hinson, who stood quietly as Lam’s sister and the attorney spoke, wept as he asked the judge to grant him probation “so I can go back and take care of my dad.”

Hinson’s father is a retired deputy sheriff who lives in Florida and is in poor health.

Except for the summer months when Hinson came to work in the marijuana industry in Humboldt, he lived with his father.

“I do apologize that a life was taken,” he said. “Khanh took it too far. We took it too far. We should have used better judgment.”

During his trial, Hinson testified he grabbed his dog and left after he heard Lam saying something about having or getting a gun. He said he wasn’t there when Lam was killed.

Deputy Public Defender Marek Reavis, representing Hinson, said despite the “sincere and authentic” grief of Lam’s family, ‘the kind of man Mr. Lam was is obviously quite different than the one known by Mr. Hinson.”

Lam’s behavior was egregious enough, Reavis said, that a group of people ran to the van. After fleeing, Lam hit the van’s driver with a stepladder.

“That was his first response to someone confronting him,” Reavis said. “… Mr. Lam didn’t deserve to die, but (it) wouldn’t have happened if not for Mr. Lam’s actions.”

Reavis asked Killoran to either grant probation or sentence Hinson to a lower term. He noted Hinson’s last criminal conviction was in 2006. With the exception of an assault on an officer at age 17, all his crimes were property crimes.

Reavis said Hinson has been an exceptional inmate in Humboldt County Correctional Facility, where he has been since November 2016. He once saved the life of a correctional officer who was being pulled over a second-floor balcony by an inmate attempting to jump.

“He was one of one or two inmates who went to the officer’s aid,” Reavis said. “That’s the kind of person he is.” 

Hinson, 41, received credit for 1,018 days served, including days for good behavior. He must serve 85 percent of the remaining sentence of a little more than four years.

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