Killer gets maximum sentence for robbery in addition to life

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 | 9:37 a.m.

A judge called a 34-year-old man convicted of killing his girlfriend outside a Las Vegas karaoke bar a "monster" as she issued the maximum sentence possible on Tuesday for robbery charges connected to the murder.

Vannasone "Sonny" Ouanbengboune, whom a jury sentenced on Nov. 16 to two consecutive sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Raynna Bunyou in August 2003, had nothing to say as District Judge Jackie Glass voiced her disgust with him.

"You (Ouanbengboune) are a monster that should not come out of a prison cell for the rest of your life," Glass said.

Glass sentenced Ouanbengboune to two consecutive terms of six to 15 years for robbery with a deadly weapon. He was convicted of the robbery charges because he fled the scene in Bunyou's car after the shooting.

She said Ouanbengboune, who in February 2003 was arrested for and pleaded guilty to committing domestic battery against 38-year-old Bunyou, was an example of the legal system failing.

"The system couldn't save the victim (Bunyou) and you (Ouanbengboune) did what you originally intended to do to her," Glass said.

At trial Metro Police Officer Jason Hansen, who responded to the domestic battery incident, said Bunyou seemed "terrified" as she recounted that Ouanbengboune had locked her in the apartment the two shared and pistol-whipped her.

Ouangbengboune's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Charles Cano, said sentencing Ouangbenboune to the maximum terms for the robbery was "obtuse" and a "little ridiculous" considering he was serving two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Glass, as she issued the maximum sentence for the robbery charges, said, "I'm going to be obtuse (because) I don't want to ever see him out of prison."

Bunyou was shot first in the thigh and than fatally shot in the head in the early morning hours of Aug. 7, 2003, outside of the Bangkok Boom restaurant, 3111 S. Valley View Blvd., near Desert Inn Road.

Quanbengboune was arrested about a week later by FBI agents in Oklahoma City.

At trial Kano argued the crime was done in the heat of passion and asked the jury to find Ouanbengboune guilty of second-degree murder instead of first-degree murder.