- Alexander Hung Tran received three life sentences with no possibility of parole for a 2015 triple murder.
- Tran was convicted of killing Heike Poike, her granddaughter and a family friend.
- Judge Hruby-Mills cited Tran's lack of remorse in her sentencing decision.
SALT LAKE CITY — A man convicted of the aggravated murder of a grandmother, her grandchild and a family friend in 2015 was given three life sentences on Friday.
Alexander Hung Tran, 42, was found guilty in August of three counts of aggravated murder, first-degree felonies. He was sentenced Friday to life in prison without possibility of parole for each charge after almost a dozen of the victims' family members made statements in court.
Heike Poike, 50; her 2-month-old granddaughter, Lyrik; and a family friend, Dakota Smith, 28, were all shot to death by Tran on Sept. 18, 2015. Officers responded to a residence at 639 N. Sir Phillip Drive after Poike did not show up to pick her grandson up from school. The Poike family lived on the main level of the home, and Tran lived in the basement.
Once they arrived, police located three bodies in the living room. While clearing the home for the investigation, officers encountered Tran coming up the stairs to the main level. Tran had a recently purchased firearm in his hands when police saw him. An empty case of ammunition was also found in his room.
Deputy Salt Lake County attorney Morgan Vedejs said there were 12 shots fired, and Tran's gun holds nine shots, meaning that he would have needed to reload partway through the killing spree.
"This was not accidental. ... This was intentional and knowing," Vedejs said.
The investigation determined Smith was shot first while sitting on the couch; he was shot four times. Infant Lyrik was then shot while asleep in the baby bouncer. Poike was then gunned down while trying to stop Tran, prosecutors said.
Ashley Poike — Heike's daughter and Lyrik's mother — testified in the trial that she had been introduced to Tran because she was looking for a place to live. She said she had moved into the house about six weeks previously. But a few weeks later, she was booked into jail, leaving her mom and children living in Tran's home. She said she spoke to her mom daily and was concerned about their living situation.
Tran told the police his mother owned the home and she was concerned about the rising electrical bill after the Poikes moved in. Tran's mother told police she told her son days earlier that she did not want the people in the house and would start an eviction process, according to charging documents.
Tran called his mother again on the day of the shooting, about five hours before the bodies were discovered, and "told her the people upstairs were gone," the charges state.
'Suffering still'
Tran's attorneys argued he was suffering from a "severe and untreated mental illness" at the time of the crime. He has since been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and is on medication that is helping him improve.
Tran's attorneys requested the sentence to be 25 years to life, as they believe he can eventually be rehabilitated through continual use of medication and therapy for his mental health issues.
The prosecution and family members of victims, however, vehemently disagreed, saying he has shown "zero empathy" or remorse for the horrific murders.
"I'm sad I can't talk to my mom ever again," Heike Poike's oldest daughter, Brittany Sessions, said in court Friday. "I never met my sweet niece, or Dakota, but I guarantee they were also good people."
Ashley Poike also expressed her grief and frustration during the sentencing hearing.
"We're all just suffering still. And it just breaks my heart that my sister Brittany never got to meet my daughter," Ashley Poike said while crying. "There are things I think about now, like how my daughter would look ... what she would be wearing, if she would act like me. Things like that, that I will never get to know."
She said she hopes Tran feels the gravity of his actions and how deeply he has impacted the families.
"Mom did what she thought was best for me and my siblings," a statement from Heike Poike's son Russell Sessions said.
His statement explained how his son, who was only 9 years old when the crime happened, sank into a deep depression and has struggled with accepting a world that has people like Tran in it. Sessions himself also struggles with the grief and trauma from the shooting.
"No parent should have to bury their child, especially for a violent, hateful, senseless murder," he said about his sister Ashley Poike. "I get physically ill and drained because of these murders. I know I will be with my family again, and part of me feels sorry for Tran because he has never known love like we have. It's up to God now."
Smith's niece said she was only 17 when her uncle died, but she remembers how thoughtful and caring he always was.
"We don't get to ever be able to see him smile again, hear him laugh, or ever see him show up again. All because of — I don't even understand how somebody could have the anger, or how someone could even do what they did to him and a 2-month-old baby," she said.
In the end, 3rd District Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills ruled his sentence would be life in prison without possibility of parole. The three prison terms are to be served consecutively. She said while it is clear the medication is successful in treating Tran, "I have nothing really that supports a rehabilitative potential."
"We have those comments in the (pre-sentence investigation report) that show absolutely no remorse, no responsibility whatsoever. Obviously, an astounding and staggering crime that occurred here," Hruby-Mills said.
After Tran's conviction, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said the "wheels of justice moved slowly" in this case, due to several years when Tran was considered incompetent and a motion and appeal that took two years to resolve, but he hopes the victims feel they have received "some measure of justice."
