RIVERSIDE (CNS) - A 46-year-old man who ran over and killed his ex- girlfriend on a Nuevo street, as well as injured her mother when she tried to intervene, is slated to be sentenced tomorrow to 25 years to life in state prison.
A Riverside jury in December convicted Bun Thieng Leuk of first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse and violation of a domestic violence restraining order for the deadly 2019 vehicular attack on 35- year-old Linda Holguin.
Jurors deliberated two days before returning the guilty verdict following almost two weeks of testimony at the Riverside Hall of Justice. They acquitted Leuk of making terrorist threats and robbery.
Riverside County Superior Court Bernard Schwartz is expected to hand down the required sentence, though he requested a Department of Probation report on Leuk's past to ascertain whether there are mitigating or aggravating factors that should be considered.
The defendant is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
According to sheriff's officials, at about 5 p.m. on Sept. 9, 2019, Leuk was involved in a dispute with Holguin while the victim stood with her children and mother, Frances Rios, outside her home in the 29000 block of 13th Street, near Reservoir Avenue.
While at the wheel of his Toyota Tacoma pickup, Leuk threw the vehicle into gear and aimed it at the victim, according to witnesses, one of whom told investigators that the woman was run over several times before the defendant fled.
Rios was struck when she attempted to come to her daughter's aid, suffering minor injuries, according to investigators.
Sheriff's Sgt. Rick Espinoza said that Leuk raced out of the area before deputies arrived. Holguin was pronounced dead at the scene.
During the predawn hours of Sept. 11, 2019, Fontana police officers stopped Leuk in his pickup on Riverside Avenue, near Interstate 10, where he was taken into custody without a struggle.
The defendant had a related domestic battery case pending at the time of his arrest, and that matter is expected to be disposed during the sentencing.
Leuk had no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions.
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