Posted in Domestic Violence on August 10, 2014
Le Huang, 47, has been sentenced to 19 ½ years in prison for a domestic violence-related murder in Southeast Portland in April 2013. He was apparently enraged over the fact that his wife, Dixiang Huang, had called a divorce lawyer that day. The two were reportedly arguing over who would get custody of their young children.
Huang pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter constituting domestic violence and unlawful use of a weapon. He admitted that he killed his wife, stabbing her in the face with scissors and strangling her.
The children, now ages 4 and 7, were not home when the murder occurred, but adult relatives found them in a different part of the house when they broke into Huangs’ bedroom and discovered the body. Relatives and co-workers had been concerned when Dixiang Huang did not show up to the restaurant she owned. Le Houang fled the state after the killing, and was arrested in Seattle three days later.
During previous settlement conferences Huang had said that he killed his wife, but appearing in Multnomah County Circuit Court he seemed reluctant to acknowledge his responsibility, saying that the violence had been committed by her and not him. He said that she was “very violent.” The prosecutor said that Huang’s guilty pleas represented a milestone in the negotiation process, but that it was disappointing and frustrating to once again hear him blame his wife for her own death. The prosecutor also said that Dixiang Huang had tried to fight her husband off, as evidenced by several gouges on Le Houang’s face, probably from his wife’s fingernails.
The day before the murder, Le Houang reportedly told a friend that the marriage was beyond saving and that he was upset because his wife wanted a divorce and custody of the children. His defense attorney said that during their first attorney-client meeting Houang had cried and said he was sorry for killing his wife.
Source: Oregon Live, “SE Portland man who fatally strangled wife — upset over divorce — gets nearly 20 years,” Aimee Green, July 14, 2014.
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